FRENCH PRINT MEDIA: DEMONISATION OF RUSSIA’S IMAGE IN THE LIGHT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ISSUES

Abstract

This article looks at the image of Russia constructed by French quality papers (Le Monde, Le Figaro, Le Parisien). In today’s world, the role of the media as a regulator of public opinion is becoming increasingly important. The linguistic techniques used by journalists allow the media to influence the reader’s perceptions, opinions, and views. The issue of neutrality of a country’s image inspires academic interest, since such perceptions affect bilateral and international relations. France and Russia are among the key global actors, and their dialogue is thus crucial. However, the two countries often disagree on human rights. Domestic violence and its decriminalisation in Russia are today widely covered in French media. Russia’s image in France has been studied by a number of Russian and foreign scholars. Their works are primarily focused on political events and conflicts, while the image in the context of social issues requires additional research. Unlike previously conducted studies, the scientific value of this work is that it does not only describe the image itself but specifically analyses linguistic tools employed for image construction. The purpose of this study is to determine the dynamics of Russia’s image in the light of domestic violence related events. The functional, narrative, and discourse analysis of the publications have revealed the general tone of the image and identified the main methods of manipulating readers’ consciousness. In the face of recent events, the French papers demonise Russia’s image pointing to the inconsistency of the authorities, decriminalisation of domestic violence, conservative values and violation of human rights. The negative image is mostly created by means of linguistic tools that can be divided into three categories: derogatory language, consciousness manipulation methods and implicit connotations. This classification and the results of the research could serve as a basis for linguistic examinations of media texts and be used for a wide range of journalism and linguistics related courses.