Representations of the ethno-political situation in the North Caucasus in the regional media space

Abstract

The article presents the results of a content analysis of regional media, that was conducted within the framework of a pilot study of the methodology developed by the authors for analysing the problems and prospects for the formation of an all-Russian identity in the North Caucasus. The purpose of the study was to determine the structure and content of representations of the ethno-political situation in the North Caucasus in the media space of the region. The relevance of ethno-political issues in the North Caucasus is due to the fact that this is a frontier region, which, due to its geographical location, ethnic, religious and cultural characteristics, is an arena of various internal and external challenges. Monitoring the ethno-political situation is an important area of ​​research, both in theoretical and practical terms. One of the technologies of such monitoring is the analysis of representations of the ethno-political situation in the political discourse of the region. The political discourse of regional media is a thematically focused, socially conditioned system of news, analytical, and prognostic materials in regional media that builds a political picture of the world. Representations are the content of information messages on media resources of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus. The documentary base of the study consisted of 1,656 information messages posted on leading information portals and in non-ethnic media outlets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus Federal District in April–June 2023. Five semantic categories of analysis were defined: 1) the practices used to strengthen the all-Russian identity; 2) politicisation of ethnicity; 3) the influence of foreign diasporas of the North Caucasian peoples; 4) threats and risks in the sphere of humanitarian security; 5) threats and risks in the sphere of socio-political security. The analysis of representations of the ethno-political situation in the political media discourse of the region allowed us to determine what kind of worldview is created and constructed by regional media: 1) prevails positive content about new practices of forming an all-Russian civic identity in the region, new traditions and rituals associated with the heroes of the North Caucasus Military District prevails; 2) potential risks of destabilisation of the socio-political situation in the North Caucasus are associated with the impact of the information war on the population, primarily young people; the growing threats of increased extremist and terrorist activity; problems of religious security in the region, which are presented in the media space in a very fragmentary manner.