The Practice of Constructing the Character “Victim” in Journalistic Publications About the Terrorist Attack in Beslan

Abstract

The authors, using the method of discourse analysis, present the results of a study regarding how 15 years after the terrorist attack in Beslan, the victim characters were constructed in Russian print and online media. The leading discursive practices of constructing such victim characters in connection with the anniversary of the terrorist attack are identified. It is typical to assign a narrative role to the character in the context of describing the events, characterizing the victims of the terrorist attack using the direct speech of the participants and eyewitnesses of the tragedy, describing the actions of the “victims community in order to preserve the memory of the dead.