The coverage of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict by the Polish media (2014-2015)

Abstract

"This book is dedicated to the coverage of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict by traditional Polish media outlets in 2014 and 2015, and presents the results of my doctoral dissertation. I wanted to study how the selected media and journalists presented and domesticated the events in Ukraine, and also how the parties to the conflict were described. Although the presentation of external wars and armed conflicts by the covering state should be neutral, the scientific literature shows that this is not always the case and that many different factors influence it (see Zelizer and Allan, 2002; Shoemaker and Cohen, 2006). Context-oriented factors, that is those referring to the relationship between the covering and the covered state, as well as event-oriented factors, which are determined by the specific nature of the event, should be taken into account. It seems that both groups of factors might have affected how the Russian-Ukrainian conflict was perceived by Polish journalists. The proximity of the dispute and Poland’s ambiguous relations with Ukraine and Russia, as well as the hybrid nature of the event, seem like important things to consider. Context-oriented factors can determine if the recipients will consider a news story as important and relevant to them – whether it is seen as “ours” or “their” event." (fragm.)