Гуманитарный вектор (Oct 2020)
Linguistic Methods of Anti-Russian Propaganda ‒ a New Trend in the German Mass Media
Abstract
The article reveals the specifics of constructing the image of Russia in the German mass media. Based on the study of media discourse, the positions of Russia in the context of the global information and psychological confrontation are determined. We identify markers that determine the information policy of Germany in relation to Russia, as well as linguistic means of forming the image of the country and methods of information aggression against Russian society. On the basis of headline complexes and article leads, priority topics (buzz-topics) in the media, informational reasons for referring to them, sentiment (expressive-evaluative vocabulary), directional vector were determined. The research object are German media, such as Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Die Welt, Bild, Der Spiegel. The lexemes ″Russia″, ″Moscow″, ″Putin″, ″Kremlin″ (and synonyms) were used as the units of analysis. Relations with Syria, the United States and NATO, Ukraine, Belarus and Turkey were popular topics in the German media during the study period (2020). The analysis of the texts showed that the mostly negative media image of Russia is represented. In foreign policy, the country is presented as an invader, a military aggressor, a murderer, an enemy, and its leader, in the interpretation of the media, is an insidious, cunning schemer, a dishonest player on the geopolitical chessboard. The portrayal of leading German newspapers portrays Russia as a peripheral state, a third world country that claims to be a world power (with nuclear weapons) and a semi-dictatorial regime. In the course of the study, we used general scientific methods of cognitive and interpretive linguistic discourse analysis. In publications, even high-quality ones, metonymy, metaphors, comparisons, epithets, hyperboles are used as components of anti-Russian rhetoric. Conclusion: there is practically no positive news about Russia, the country itself is seen as the main threat to the security of the world. This requires an adequate response, a new information policy and a correction of the country’s reputation.
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