Authors

Discussion

Russian state-affiliated media, particularly television programmes, continue to offer one-sided coverage of the war in Ukraine that echoes the state’s official position. Television remains the most accessible and consumed medium for the majority of the Russian population, so an in-depth study of attempts to use the medium to legitimise the invasion of Ukraine is crucial to understanding the larger context of the government’s communication with its citizens and how public opinion on events of such magnitude is formed.

The paper will present ongoing PhD research and offer an overview of the field of Critical Discourse Studies, within which the study is situated, as well as the chosen data and its significance in shaping public opinion on the ongoing invasion. Moreover, the methodological frameworks selected for data analysis will be presented. These include legitimation strategies (van Leeuwen, 2007; Reyes, 2011) used by Russian state-affiliated television, framing of the conflict and its parties through metaphors (Charteris-Black, 2004), and the distribution of blame (Hanssen et al., 2022) for the war. 

Data for the study will come from Russian Channel One’s evening news show “Время” (“Time”), Russia-1’s “Вечер с Владимиром Соловьёвым” (“Evening with Vladimir Solovyov”), and RT’s News. Key events of the war which the selected broadcasts will cover include: the start of the invasion (24 February 2022); the announcement of “partial mobilisation” (21 September 2022); the annexation of the Donbass region (30 September 2022); the abandonment of Kherson (10 November 2022); and the Wagner Group rebellion (24 June 2023). These events have been some of the most significant in defining the war, and Russian officials have been forced to adjust their rhetoric in response to each of them.

The paper will highlight particularly those events that occurred in the first year of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine and compare the talking points used in Channel One’s and Russia-1’s programmes aimed at internal, Russian-speaking audiences, with RT’s English language broadcasts aimed outwards at international audiences. Differences and similarities in the discourse will be analysed to help uncover how the Russian state attempts to amplify its rhetoric domestically and internationally.