RIA Novosti Research Articles

An Approach of the Current Cuban-Russian Relations in the Content on the Online News of the Russian Information Agency "RIA Novosti"

An Approach of the Current Cuban-Russian Relations in the Content on the Online News of the Russian Information Agency "RIA Novosti"

К ВОПРОСУ О ПОРТРЕТЕ ИНВАЛИДА В СМИ

The article presents the results of a study of the features of coverage of events involving disabled people in modern Russian media. The data obtained are considered in four perspectives: the reflection of socio-demographic characteristics of the disabled in the media, the main topics covered by publications with the participation of disabled people, the activity of disabled people described by the media, the general emotional coloring of news articles about people with disabilities. The article is based on the results of content analysis of news articles published in the period from December 2020 to August 2021 in RBC, RIA Novosti, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, TASS, Izvestia. The analysis showed that the image of a disabled person broadcast in the media is poorly differentiated with respect to socio-demographic parameters and health characteristics, leaving out of consideration the diversity of material living conditions and the social situation of people with disabilities. Basic needs are prevalent in the description of disabled people, while creative and spiritual ones are leveled. The media articles are dominated by paternalistic attitudes in characterizing the disabled: they need protection and assistance provided by the executive branch and law enforcement agencies. Despite a sufficiently high social activity, a disabled person turns out to be an object of action that has no identity.

Дискурс «конституционные поправки» и «пандемия коронавируса» в цифровой политической повестке дня в 2020 г.: агитация vs сдер- живание в официальных СМИ

The article presents the results of a large-scale applied study of “Constitutional Amendments” and “Coronavirus Pandemic” discourses as a part of the digital political agenda formed by the state media in 2020. The empirical dataset comprises an array of network data collected by the continuous sampling of news articles published by Interfax, RIA Novosti and TASS agencies on their official websites in 2020 within the March-September period.The obtained data was subjected to network analysis, visual analysis and linguo-discursive analysis. It allowed the authors to identify the dominant topics in the digital agenda created by the state media, determine the techniques used to form and manage the digital political agenda in the online space and assess their effectiveness. The article concludes by the description of the identified features, strategies and techniques used for shaping, maintaining and managing the digital political agenda by the state media regarding the analyzed discourses – "Constitutional Amendments" and "Coronavirus Pandemic". The authors infer that the strategy of pragmatic modeling was used for online agitation with the aim of ideological mobilization of citizens. Оnline-informing strategy was used to neutralize panic sentiment among citizens and form constructive civic behavioral patterns in the context of a pandemic and an internal lockdown.

EUPHEMISMS AND DYSPHEMISMS IN ONLINE POLITICAL NEWS ARTICLES AND IN THEIR READERS’ COMMENTS

The article aims to reveal the specificity of functioning of euphemisms and dysphemisms in the most widely commented Internet news of 2017-2019 about the domestic politics of France (Le Figaro, Le Monde) and Russia (RIA Novosti, Lenta.ru) and in the readers’ comments to these news articles. Euphemism and dysphemism are viewed upon as units of language, not speech. They are used as response utterances to something considered negative in a communicative situation. Euphemism aims to hide this negativity, while dysphemism, on the contrary, emphasizes it. Since the concept of “negative” is rather subjective and the reaction to the prohibition of the negative is also subjective, there arises the problem of differentiation between euphemisms and dysphemisms. Referring to the concepts of “meaning” and “sense” allows the researcher to single out additional groups of lexemes and solves the problem: the author distinguishes “pure euphemisms and dysphemisms” and “hidden euphemisms and dysphemisms” (a schema illustrating their correlation is presented). The functions of euphemization and dysphemization and some linguistic means of their expression are also considered. Strong evidence was found that the differentiation between euphemisms and dysphemisms depends on the context of the utterance: the extralinguistic situation (by whom, for what reason, when a certain utterance was made; what are the relations between the communicants, etc.) , as well as the linguistic environment of the lexeme in question (other lexemes and syntax).

КУЛЬТУРНОЕ ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЕ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ И ФЕДЕРАТИВНОЙ РЕСПУБЛИКИ ГЕРМАНИЯ В ПЕРИОД С 2000 ПО 2020 г.

In the modern world, culture is an integral part of the state policy. The authors note the importance of cultural policy as a tool for countries to improve their relations, overcome crisis situations and build further development paths, in spite of political differences. The article deals with the cultural interaction between Germany and Russia during the 21st century. The chosen period is explained by the coming to power of Vladimir Putin in the Russian Federation and the beginning of significant changes in the state's foreign and domestic policies. During the examination of this topic, the research methods of classification, systemic approach, and historical analysis were used. With the help of historical analysis, the history of cooperation between the two states, starting from the 9th century, was considered. Common and different features in the historical past of Russia and Germany were also established. The systemic approach made it possible to define cultural policy as an integral element of the country's foreign policy. The classification method involves the division of cultural policy into several areas in which the Russian Federation and the FRG interact. The work on this article was carried out using laws in the field of international cultural cooperation, a large amount of information from official news portals (RIA Novosti, TASS, RBC), official websites of the Embassy of Russia in Berlin and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Moscow. The vectors of interaction between the two states are described in detail: scientific and technological cooperation; academic mobility; exchange programs for students, scientists, exchange of methodological literature; cross-years; forum campaign; preservation of historical memory in the territory of both states; support programmes for compatriots living in Russia and Germany; activities to promote and remain both Russian and German languages, etc. Within each direction, the forms and ways, in which countries work together, are described. This research allowed drawing conclusions about culture's significance in the formation of a positive/negative image of the state, as well as to highlight an important pattern: with the help of cultural policy, states can both improve relations and provoke conflict. Thus, the authors analyzed various forms and mechanisms of the cultural interaction between the Russian Federation and the Federal Republic of Germany. There is a rich historical experience and economic basis for fruitful cooperation between the two countries and their nations. That is why two states have been able to maintain a dialogue at different levels, resolve conflict situations and restore contacts for many centuries. Therefore, both Russia and the FRG can continue to work in this direction in order to strengthen relations and bring them to a new level with the help of cultural policy.

The Image of the City of Guangzhou in Russian Mass Media (Based on Ria Novosti Publications)

The Image of the City of Guangzhou in Russian Mass Media (Based on Ria Novosti Publications)

ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ПОСИЛІВ ТА МЕСЕДЖІВ ЯК СКЛАДНИКА ІНФОРМАЦІЙНОЇ ВІЙНИ ПРОТИ УКРАЇНИ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ КРИМСЬКИХ ЗМІ)

The scientific article presents the results of monitoring of modern Crimean mass media of the temporarily occupied territory (hereinafter –TOT) of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. The aim of the work is to study and analyze the process of formation and content of the main messages regarding the events in Ukraine, which are presented in the modern media of the temporarily occupied Crimea and Sevastopol and provided to the audience in informational and analytical publications. The subject of the study is the most common in the Crimean media content groups and the main ideas of messages about Ukraine. The study used a chronological approach to the analyzed events; the systematization of information was carried out using sociological, statistical methods, including content analysis. Methods of observation, comparison and generalization are used at different stages. The results of the study can be used to develop the principles of information policy, implementation of measures to inform the population and establish communication with residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. During the monitoring, the information segment of the six Crimean mass media was analyzed: the most widely circulated newspaper «Crimean Pravda», the official publication of the so-called Crimean Council of Ministers «Krymskaya Gazeta», the Crimean Information News Agency, «RIA Novosti Crimea», and Internet sites «Crimean Echo» and «Crimean News». The scientific article is an integral part of a comprehensive study of the transformation of the media space of Crimea after the occupation of 2014 and the basics of information policy and information reintegration of temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The article contains terminology banned in Ukraine regarding the territorial integrity of the state, as well as negative emotional statements addressed to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. All of them belong entirely to the Crimean media and have been used as examples. The author does not share the views of the authors of the Crimean media. The latest information on Crimean media monitoring has been put into scientific circulation. The results of the study can be used in the formation of principles and principles of information policy, implementation of measures to inform the population and establish communication with residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

Design as a Means of Creating a Journalistic Image in Infographics

Infographics as one of the most popular types of media text attracts the attention of researchers. However, the analysis criteria and evaluation of a new information presentation issue is still underresearched. From this point of view, a comprehensive analysis of infographics seems relevant, including both the study of its functionality and the study of ways to create a media image. The article attempts to determine the role of design techniques in terms of the selection and systematization principles, as well as the functioning peculiarities. Design solutions are considered in the context of the journalistic potential of infographics in the present study. That is reflected in expressing the author’s position, in updating socially significant information, in turning a real fact into a media image, as well as in organizing a dialogue between the addresser and the addressee on the basis of co-creation. The dialectical unity of the traditional functions for a journalistic text and design creativity is under consideration. The unity includes such journalistic functions as informational, communicative, and ideological, combined with the design, as well as aesthetic, cultural-formative, and enlightening function. An attempt to summarize theoretical observations supported by examples of infographics by web-sites TASS. Infographics and RIA Novosti news agency. The analysis was based on the following methods: semantic, functional, structural and compositional, discursive, art history. The big data combined in an infographics into a vivid image is not only visualized and systematized, but it is also personalized. So modern multimedia technologies have formed a new type of recipient, who is required of information perception involvement. The infographics considered in the present study provides a means of characterizing new principles of communication based on active participation in the process of perceiving media text, and, therefore, in the formation of a media image based on the information received. The study offers the possibility to conclude that the analysis and evaluation of infographics requires an integrated approach: dialectical unity of the criteria and elements, both of journalistic work, and of design as a part of time-tested art, are necessary. Keywords: infographics, design, journalism, media image, communication

Media aesthetic component of communication and its manifestation in infographic content

The goal of the present study is to demonstrate the media-aesthetic potential of infographic messages on particular cases. This can be done due to an integrated approach to the analysis of the visual content of media content. That indicates the case study method implementation as well as description and generalization. The theoretical basis of the research is represented by scientific studies of various directions. That includes the history of media and visual media culture; features of the concepts of media culture and media language, media aesthetics; infographics as a tool of media language. The empirical basis of the study is journalistic materials containing infographic content of such publications as by RIA Novosti (ria.ru), TASS (tass.ru). The examples of visual image implementation in the transmission of information — media content containing infographics — are given and analyzed. Considering media aesthetics as the formation of a sensory perception of the proposed media content, the author turns to the philosophical and aesthetic foundations of visual practices in the media and post-humanistic trends in journalism. As a result of the analysis of the theoretical and practical basis of the research, the author comes to the conclusion that today the role of the media aesthetic component of messages is most relevant. And infographics, as the connecting link of language and consciousness, is its most striking tool.

Problems of Countering Cyber Attacks in Broadcasting (by the example of International News Agency Russia Today)

The article deals with issues of countering cyber-attacks (so-called trolling and hacking) in Internet broadcasting, and using social networks in info-competition and communication discourse in German-language on-air, by the example of International News Agency “Russia Today” (RT) and its website Sputnik. The topicality of the article is based on the fact that RT’s website Sputnik is a relatively new resource on the European information market. The author analyzes the cases and contexts of countering malware and targeted cyber-attacks on European German-language broadcasting agencies. The study of RT’s and Sputnik’s journalists’ work shows that it is actively hindered by some Western countries, particularly the USA and the UK, which are obsessed by anti-Russian xenophobia and the unproved pre-conception of Russia’s interference with their internal affairs. These countries openly admit to be waging an outreach war against Russian broadcasting companies by means of hacking attacks. Russian multi-language broadcasting channel RT, founded in 2005, successfully reflects and transmits Russia’s official position on key issues of the international politics and countering cyber-attacks by foreign “trolls” and “hackers”. A website is currently the most easily accessible among all digital communication channels, and its quality is easy to assess. Considering this, the author describes advantages of RT’s transition from social networks to its German-language site Sputnik. The measures taken in order to optimize its structure, adapt to mobile devices, and provide convenience of site navigation, enabled Sputnik to enlarge its geographic reach and enter the circle of foreign German-language social networks. Keywords. Internet broadcasting, broadcasting, cyber-attacks, information war, trolling, hacking, German-speaking audience, management of news, International News Agency “Russia Today” (INA RT), website Sputnik, Internet media, social networks, RIA Novosti.

Means of Influence on Public Opinion in Political Context: Speech Manipulation in the Media

The manipulation problem in the media has been still pressing. Processes and techniques intended for making an influence on public opinion and behaviors are in ongoing improvement, making it difficult to access an objective image of the world. Therefore, this research aims at emphasizing the importance of speech (language) means that form a basis of manipulations in mass communications. To achieve this, authors have provided the systematization of social influence processes in the media and made techniques and means of speech influence clearer. Authors provided a content analysis of texts of 2018 from the media using news resources of different countries (‘Russia Today, ’ ‘RIA Novosti, ’ ‘Ukrinform’ and ‘Fox News Channel’) as an example. The research subject consists of news materials of a politico-social nature on Russia's participation in the Syrian conflict. Authors have empirically revealed a clear desire to influence readers of the media resources using covert means of the manipulative influence. In total, they have found five types of manipulative speech influence in texts of the media. There are self-presentation, semantic speech strategies, persuasive strategies, hit piece and information manipulation. A lexical toolkit of speech manipulation includes euphemisms, dysphemisms, slogan words, speech metaphorization, etc. Media texts have become more and more complicated as they contain hints, precedent phenomena, irony, as well as metamessages of informative presentation. Each media of the selected ones more or less uses means of speech manipulation in varying degrees. Applications of such methods of influence (in number) almost directly depend on a political attitude towards an object.

Neutral or Biased? The Presentation of the Kyrgyzstan and Egypt Uprisings by RIA Novosti

This article analyses the media coverage of the uprisings in Kyrgyzstan (February–April 2005) and Egypt (January–February 2011) by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. It aims to identify the features of two frame dimensions, namely the promotion of a particular problem and its causal interpretation. Our analysis uses 184 articles published online by the news agency during the two events and differentiates between three types of articles (news stories, opinion articles and commentaries by experts). The results indicate how several nuances of this framing dimension could bias public perception towards protesters or incumbents.

Social Media Content in Journalists Articles

The Internet anonymity for a long time made it difficult for journalists to use the content presented in it. Now, thanks to the convergence of the "virtual" personality and the "real" one, this problem has been mitigated. Journalists begin to perceive social networks as sources of information, and they start to interpret what is published in them as reliable data or public statements. This research shows the extent of penetration of social networks information to the media, characterizes structural-functional features of this recent journalism tool. This work shows how often, when and for which purposes Media uses the social networks and how does this situation influences the articles. The continuous selection from RIA Novosti, Life.ru and Lenta.ru (683 articles) allowed us to examine features of representation of information from social networks. It was found that journalists use social media materials to confirm some fact or position of a person, as an information guide, they borrow there photos or videos, and, analyzing the comments, reproduce the "opinion of the audience". In general, it is shown that social networks have already secured the place of information providers for the media. The media began to trust this information, learned how to work with it, to process it for certain genres. There are even special software tools that allow Internet media to integrate very organically posts from social networks into their pages with publications when creating a site. The identical virtual personality of a real person, created now in social media, increasingly brings communication within the network closer to communication in real life, which expands the professional journalistic toolkit.

KREMLIN OPERATES ON ITS MOST DEMORALIZED PATIENT: THE MEDIA

(By Vasily Gatov, media researcher, analyst, media investment expert and board member of WAN-IFRA [magazine]. The Moscow Times, May 5, 2016, p. 2. Complete text:) Five years ago, then-president [of Russia] Dmitry Medvedev met with leading representatives of Russia’s online media community - digital entrepreneurs, executives, scholars, authors and some opposition-minded bloggers. The gathering took place in a refurbished Moscow Youth Library, and it had the look and style of a US town hall meeting. ... Back then, exactly one year before President Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin, the reality of Russian media seemed so different. The participants addressed matters of the future; they spoke about innovation and openness, competitiveness and globalization. Of course, they talked about problems: about free speech, media development and excessive state participation. But the assumption was that government was open for discussion. After all, Medvedev had promised an innovation economy. Today, however, the Russian media have been transformed from head to toe. Over five difficult years, state doctors have taken a scalpel to any organs noncompliant with the new rules - like RIA Novosti in December 2013. They applied chemotherapy to the rest, literally expelling capital from the media business. Aesculapian authorities practiced laparoscopic manipulations to remove undesirable journalists and editors from news outlets. And under a genetic treatment, the principles of editorial independence and freedom of expression were replaced by values of censorship, loyalty, manipulative propaganda ... and agenda-setting. ... Roughly half of the participants in the famous Medvedev meeting in May 2011 are now either expelled from mass media, or live under scrutiny and legal persecution. Svetlana Mironyuk works for a bank, Anton Nossik had been charged for supposed extremism in a blog post, while the Russian startup leaders are now mostly based in California’s Silicon Valley. ... An even bigger change has occurred outside the media business. Over these five years, the Kremlin has learned a trick or two about its public. It now understands that propaganda works only when you have reframed and primed your audience. Academics have yet to study the mass social manipulation that has taken place between 2012 and 2016. But we can say with some certainty that Russia has witnessed a shift from relatively pluralistic and open media to a new form altogether. Today Russian media [outlets] channel a besieged fortress mindset, and represent a jingoistic and socially conservative tribe that negates any kind of foreign values. The demand for neutral journalism has all but disappeared. ... This transformation could not have happened without pressure from above. But it has also taken on an energy of its own. In order to satisfy the demand for a conservative mindset, major Russian news outlets have become even more nationalistic, anti-Western and conservative than required. ... There are few truly independent media companies operating in Russia today, and even fewer influential ones. Within dependent (controlled by the state or its oligarchic agents) newspapers and television stations, laparoscopic exercises continue. This is the case with RBC (RosBusinessConsulting), arguably Russia’s most thorough and independent news organization, but ultimately dependent on the wider business interests of its billionaire owner, Mikhail Prokhorov. Whatever the reasons that have been given regarding the departure of editor in chief Yelizaveta Osetinskaya, it is safe to assume the Kremlin pushed Prokhorov to appoint a less combative editor to head the publication. ... Putin’s five-year plan to conquer the media and free speech is celebrating an undoubted success across all traditional, broadcast and digital media. The commercial press, whether progovernment, oppositional or neutral, has been forced to adopt his agenda. It is an agenda that considers Russia more important than Russians, the state superior to citizens and power better than freedom. ... You may pray for it or you may condemn it. But you can’t avoid it. As a journalist, author or editor in Russia, you act under the scenario of Putin’s playbook, leading down a road of no return, right up to the media cemetery. ... Yet, with all such apocalyptic pictures in mind, there is a professional resurgence in some distinct areas - like the Latvia-based Meduza news Web site, the advocacy-based Takiye Dela [Such Matters] and Mediazona, and the education-based Arzamas Academy, Open Lectures and Open University. Those startups feature innovative ideas, advanced journalism and creative use of content - and employ the creme de la creme of modern Russian journalists. ... Smaller and less ambitious in scale than earlier democratic media, these experiments, in fact, secure the future of socially responsible communication in Russian society.

SYRIA IN HALF

(By Yekaterina Markhulia and Polina Khimshiashvili. RBC Daily, April 26, 2016, p. 2. Condensed text:). .. At a Feb. 25 [sic; April 25] press conference in Moscow, [Russian] Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Washington’s proposal to divide Syria into zones of authorized military action simplistic. According to the State Department’s plan, which US Secretary of State Kerry presented to New York Times reporters on April 23, Russia would terrorists in one part of Syria, and the US would them in the other; meanwhile, both countries would jointly monitor the ceasefire. ... John Kerry’s recent statement that we need to come to an agreement on where our respective troops are and what zones can and cannot be bombed***is a rather simplistic approach. Still, fighting terrorists is the main thing, RIA Novosti quotes Lavrov as saying. ... Kerry’s proposal followed the de facto failure of the latest round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva. On Thursday, April 21, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), a delegation formed in Riyadh and supported by the West, suspended its participation in the consultations and left the city. It reportedly did so because Damascus refused to adhere to the initially stated goals of the talks and because of violations of the ceasefire that has been in effect since Feb. 27 [see Current Digest, Vol. 68, No. 8, pp. 3 - 6].. . . ... fate of the [Syrian] president remains a stumbling block in the negotiations. HNC is demanding [Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s resignation. Damascus categorically rejects this scenario: Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told the Associated Press on April 13 that such a scenario could lead to a coup d’etat, and so the opposition will have to abandon its dream of a transitional government. Omar Osi, a member of the [Syrian] government’s delegation, accused the oppositionists of not having their own opinions, and [said that] in reality the negotiations will be conducted the British, French and Americans.. . . ... A Russian official familiar with the course of the Syrian negotiations told RBC that Moscow does not see substantial progress in the intra-Syrian talks: The irreconcilable opposition has failed to dissociate itself from terrorist groups, RBC’s interlocutor said. ... Moscow, too, sees no progress in negotiations with the US on enhancing coordination in Syria: parties continue to share information, but not intelligence; the US military is not agreeing to coordinate with the Russian military. ... We are not going to sit there and let [Putin] do his thing supporting the regime and hammer at the opposition and say ‘This is working.’ Obviously, we’re not stupid about it, Kerry said in an interview with the New York Times. [US] President Barack Obama announced on Monday in Hamburg that he will increase the number of special operations forces posted in Syria to ISIS from 50 to 300 people. ... US is clearly concerned by the actions of Russian troops in Syria. In mid-March, President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of the bulk of [Russia’s] military contingent [see Current Digest, Vol. 68, No. 11, pp. 3 - 6], but Washington does not believe that Moscow has left there for good. Wall Street Journal sources in the US administration claim that Russia is moving artillery units to areas in northern Syria where government troops are concentrated, and they assume that Moscow and Damascus are prepared to resume full-scale fighting based on the tense situation at the negotiations in Geneva. ... administration itself would prefer not to aggravate the Syrian issue: Back in October 2015, when the Russian operation in Syria had just begun, Obama said that he would not allow the situation to slowly turn into a proxy war with Moscow. But Washington has serious misgivings about the intentions of Moscow and its allies. Wall Street Journal sources at the Pentagon claim that the intensity of Russia’s air strikes against Assad’s opponents has increased in recent days, although they still number less than before the ceasefire was announced: about 10 strikes per day, instead of 100. ... It can’t be ruled out that by entering into confrontation, the Assad regime is forcing its ally Russia to take its side.. . . ... Following Lavrov’s lead, Russian parliamentarians from relevant committees rejected Kerry’s ideas about divvying up areas of responsibility. ... Leonid Kalashnikov, first deputy head of the State Duma’s international affairs committee, generally likened the division of areas of responsibility in Syria to the occupation and partition of postwar Germany, and this when the authorities in Damascus have not invited the US to fight on its territory. Such a division would inevitably lead to the disintegration of the country, believes former State Duma deputy Semyon Bagdasarov, director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia.

Representations of Trust to Public Service in Russian Newspapers during Election Time: Corpus-based Content Analysis in Public Administration Sociology

This article presents a study of the trust as social and public administration categories from the sociological and corpus-based perspective. To study the trust as the social category was elected a newspaper corpus (corpus of contemporary media). The corpus includes the texts of the seven media: printed Newspapers (Novosty, Sovetsky sport, Trud, Komsomolskaya Pravda), and electronic agencies (RIA Novosti, RBC, New region) in approximately equal volume. The study has revealed that the category ‘trust’ in the Russian newspapers is used in the context of political institutions. The political context means that the text describes the relationship of the actors of public administration, who, in Russia, often are the staff of public service. We believe that this fact highlights the loyalty of people to the authorities. It is indirectly confirmed by the data of positive mentions of trust in the context of ‘respect’ and ‘authority’. In 2011, State Duma elections took place, with the number of mention of trust in political institutional context decreasing more than twice. Thus, in the pre-election period, the significance of the problem of recognition and respect for the subjects of political institutions in the media decreases, but increases the importance of social harmony. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s1p436

Russia Today's coverage of Euromaidan

As I was writing this response to the forum about Euromaidan, the clashes on 18 February 2014 erupted. As there should be a cut-off point for analysing this ‘winter of discontent’ in Ukraine, I will concentrate on the events as they unfolded until 21 February 2014. I approach the issue of Euromaidan from a Media and Cultural studies perspective. After a brief insight on how Euromaidan is seen in Russia, I will analyse how Russia's soft power tool – a multi-language Russian-based TV network called Russia Today (RT) – constructs a narrative of Euromaidan. I will do that by looking at RT's reports on Euromaidan available online. As M. Simonyan, an editor-in-chief, said, RT is set to combine a ‘professional format’ of the BBC, CNN and Euronews and to ‘reflect Russia's opinion of the world’ and present a ‘more balanced picture’ of Russia (RIA Novosti, 2007). It is hypothesised that there might be discrepancies in the coverage of Euromaidan, as RT needs to combine principles of an international broadcaster targeting a global audience with the need to reflect Russia's stance and improve Russia's image aboard.

The BRICS Fallacy

The term BRICS—referring to the association of emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—dominated the headlines in March 2013 as Durban hosted the annual group summit. S...

OLD STEREOTYPES AND NEW TRENDS IN WORLD POLITICS

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” (Russian edition), (Moscow: Attikus, 2009), p. 14 2. A classic example is efforts by Gazprom and by the think tanks linked to it to persuade the public and the ruling elite that shale gas has no future. Obviously, rising production of shale gas threatens Gazprom's status as the largest supplier of gas to Europe. 3. Adjusting Chinese economic indicators for purchasing power parity (PPP) may not actually make a lot of sense. PPP indicators work well for countries with a roughly similar structure of the economy and quality of the goods and services being consumed. Adjusting Chinese output for PPP fails to take into account, for example, that about 50 percent of the Chinese live in rural areas and consume low-quality goods and services, including government-provided services and housing. For people in the developed countries, such goods and services have zero value. 4. Minxin Pei, “China's Governance Crisis,” Foreign Affairs, 2002, September/October, <http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/58248/minxin-pei/chinas-governance-crisis#>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 5. China 2030: Building a Modern, Harmonious, and Creative High-Income Society (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2012), p. 301. 6. “China Facing a Crisis,” presentation at an IMEMO RAN workshop on February 1, 2012. <http://www.imemo.ru/ru/conf/2012/01022012/Presentation_01022012_01.pdf>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 7. Andrey Lankov, “Modernization in East Asia, 1945–2010,” lecture read on February 4, 2010 at the Polytechnic Museum, Moscow, <http://polit.ru/article/2010/03/11/lankov/>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 8. “China's Hidden Debt Risks 2012 Crisis, Northwestern's Shih Says,” Bloomberg News, March 2, 2010, <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aN94MF7BDx_A>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 9. Gordon Chang, “China's Looming Debt Disaster,” August 23, 2011, <http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/23/why-china-s-debt-problems-are-worse-than-america-s.html>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 10. “China Facing a Crisis,” presentation at an Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO, Russian Academy of Science) workshop on February 1, 2012, <http://www.imemo.ru/ru/conf/2012/01022012/Presentation_01022012_01.pdf>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 11. “China Facing a Crisis,” presentation at an Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO, Russian Academy of Science) workshop on February 1, 2012, <http://www.imemo.ru/ru/conf/2012/01022012/Presentation_01022012_01.pdf>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 12. China 2030: Building a Modern, Harmonious, and Creative High-Income Society, World Bank, 2012. 13. China 2030: Building a Modern, Harmonious, and Creative High-Income Society, World Bank, 2012. 14. “2012 Global R&D Funding Forecast,” Battelle (December 2011), pp. 28–29. 15. Anil K. Gupta and Wang Haiyan, “Chinese Innovation is a Paper Tiger,” Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2011, <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904800304576472034085730262.html>, last accessed July 13, 2012. 16. “Global High-value Patents, by Selected Region/Country: 2000–2008,” <http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/slides.htm>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 17. “Annual Energy Outlook 2012: Early Release Overview,” U.S. Energy Information Administration, p. 1. 18. “The Economic and Employment Contributions of Shale Gas in the United States,” IHS Global Insight, December 2011, p. 9. 19. Evgenia Korytina, “Oil at 3 Dollars a Barrel,” RBK Daily, November 1, 2010, <http://www.rbcdaily.ru/2010/11/01/tek/523807>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 20. John Dizard, “The True Cost of Shale Gas Production,” Financial Times, March 7, 2010, <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e34f5282-2899-11df-a0b100144feabdc0.html#axzz1uZpCa3YS>, last accessed May 8, 201). 21. Nikolay Ivanov, “The Pipe of Our Worries”, Novaya Gazeta, May 4, 2012. 22. Timofey Krylov, “Development of the Russian Arctic Shelf is Inevitable. New Technologies Required To Make Production Economical,” Oil and Gas Eurasia, No. 4 (April 2011), <http://www.oilandgaseurasia.ru/articles/p/139/article/1480/>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 23. Lilia Shevtsova, “Pretend Modernization: Medvedev-led Russia has Wasted Four Years,” Gazeta, May 4, 2012, <http://www.gazeta.ru/comments/2012/05/03_x_4570813.shtml>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 24. Viktor Yesin and Evgeny Savostyanov, “European Missile Defense Without Myths or Politics,” Nezavisimoye Voennoye Obozreniye, April 13, 2012, <http://nvo.ng.ru/armament/2012-04-13/1_pro.html?mpril>, last accessed May 8, 2012. 25. “General Staff Does Not Rule Out the Possibility of Launching a Pre-emptive Strike against the European Missile Defense System,” RIA Novosti, May 3, 2012, <http://www.ria.ru/defense_safety/20120503/640042925.html>, last accessed May 8, 2012.

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In 2011 cyberspace obtained recognition at the highest level—first and foremost, in terms of its importance for international security. This is evidenced by several events and processes which may l...