Russia’s Portrayal in the Mirror of International Mass Media: The Role of Cultural Context

Olga B Maximova

doi:10.5539/ijel.v8n3p25

Abstract

The analysis of cultural context in media texts can contribute to understanding how national images are constructed in the international media discourse. The image of a country is better understood by the audience of another country when it is introduced through familiar cultural concepts and well-known experiences so that specific, culture-bound elements of the other culture are brought closer to the target audience.The research provides linguo-cultural analysis of Russia’s portrayal in political media discourse in English-speaking countries drawing on the approach to political discourse as the process of production and interpretation of a text in meaningful political, social and cultural context.The study is aimed at exploring British and U.S.A. mass media to reveal typical features of the English-language political discourse concerning Russia and to find out how Russia’s image is constructed. In the course of the study we examined culture-bound lexicon in texts of various genres of political discourse in mass media focusing on Russia. Further, the use of Russian culture-bound items without translation in British and American mass media was analyzed, and such items were classified into categories according to their contextual functions.The results indicate that Russia is deeply integrated into the cultural context of the English-speaking audience; it can be said that Russia’s image in the Anglophone political media discourse is outlined with the aid of various cultural-bound associative, connotative and metaphorical links which are familiar for native readers and serve them as a bridge facilitating their understanding and interpretation of Russian culture.

Highlights

The studies of national images created by international media are gaining in importance due to increasing intercultural communication in the contemporary global society, which may be seen in interrelated discourses and social practices through which cultural meanings and representations are produced, consumed and interpreted
The results indicate that Russia is deeply integrated into the cultural context of the English-speaking audience; it can be said that Russia’s image in the Anglophone political media discourse is outlined with the aid of various cultural-bound associative, connotative and metaphorical links which are familiar for native readers and serve them as a bridge facilitating their understanding and interpretation of Russian culture
We believe that the study of the cultural context in media texts, such as news reports, analytical texts and blogs united by their single focus on Russia, can contribute to understanding how Russia’s image is modelled and constructed in the mirror of political discourse of international mass media.Cultural-bound elements of the “other” culture are better understood by the audience when they are introduced through familiar concepts and well-known experiences in accordance with “proximization strategies” which are intended to bring the reality closer to the audience (Cap, 2013; Kopytowska, 2015, p. 308) and provided with algorithms of their interpretation

Summary

Introduction

The studies of national images created by international media are gaining in importance due to increasing intercultural communication in the contemporary global society, which may be seen in interrelated discourses and social practices through which cultural meanings and representations are produced, consumed and interpreted. Mass media are believed to serve as a platform for such interaction, that is why it is very important to gain insight into what is going on in this sphere, to obtain a clear and precise understanding of its inner workings, that is, to develop an adequate procedure to analyze one country’s image construction (e.g., the image of Russia) in the political media discourse of other countries and cultures. We believe that the study of the cultural context in media texts, such as news reports, analytical texts and blogs united by their single focus on Russia, can contribute to understanding how Russia’s image is modelled and constructed in the mirror of political discourse of international mass media.Cultural-bound elements of the “other” culture are better understood by the audience when they are introduced through familiar concepts and well-known experiences in accordance with “proximization strategies” which are intended to bring the reality closer to the audience

Methods

Results

Conclusion