The Image of Russia in the Russian Society: Content Analysis of the Print Media for the Period 2017–2020

The image of Russia is one of the key components for determining self-identity of the population, the growth of trust in the government, and understanding the current political and economic directions of the country. The purpose of this study is to identify the image of Russia in Russian political and non-political print-based media for the period of 2017–2020. The research methodology includes content analysis and case studies of publications in the leading Russian print media. From a theoretical standing point, the image of a country consists of a spatial image, an image of a population, an image of power, and an image of the leader. The investigation is based on the analysis of the following main topics: conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, sanctions against Russia, presidential elections in the Russian Federation and the United States, issues and topics raised by non-systemic opposition and the Covid-19 pandemic. The article finds that the image constructed by print media refers to Russia as a strong, cognitively complex, and dynamic country. Most of the messages are positive, as they are aimed at the domestic audience. Negative characteristics refer specifically to one component of the image — the image of power. Finally, the study reveals that newspapers, as a technical means of transmitting information in the framework of the Lasswell’s communication model, appear as inferior in speed if compared to other channels of mass communication. As such, print media discovered a new niche of interaction with the reader through high-quality expert analysis.

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