Russian Media:

Russia has a history of suppressing news outlets that oppose the government, and the current conflict shows the great lengths Putin is willing to go to ensure complete control over the news. Journalists in Russia can be immediately imprisoned for accurately reporting or speaking against the actions of the Russian government in Ukraine. The Russian government has also taken aggressive action against news reporters from other countries, particularly those who report in the Russian language. For peace to be possible, there needs to be access to truthful events and freedom of expression, so Russia’s aggressive actions towards the media inhibit peacebuilding.

 

Western Media:

Western media exercises much more freedom than Russian media, but it is not without issues. Many racist biases have been exposed in Western media when comparing how the press speaks about conflict in Europe compared to conflict in the rest of the world. The dramatization of news has led to the press needing big, dramatic stories to get clicks; and promoting only bloody stories that encourage emotional responses leads to much more anger and a preference by the public for aggressive action rather than peacebuilding.

 

Global Social Media and Propaganda:

Social media has made it possible for information to be shared in astoundingly short periods of time, and with that power comes the power to spread misinformation rapidly. The prevalence of misinformation spurs anger and distrust, leading people to prefer violent and impulsive action rather than diplomatic peacebuilding. People have found ways to capitalize off of the war on social media and therefore it is in their interests for violence to continue, leading to less of a push towards peacebuilding.

 

Language:

The way in which the conflict is discussed is also important to note. The West has made a move towards using Ukrainian transliterations and pronunciations rather than Russian ones, further validating Ukraine’s national identity. There is also a push for Ukraine to be referred to as just “Ukraine” rather than “the Ukraine”. This may seem like a small issue to focus on, after all, there are countries like “the Netherlands”, but this is an important issue for some Ukrainians. “Ukraine” means “borderlands” and with the word “the” it is implied to mean “the borderlands of the Soviet Union”. Using “the” often refers to a place as a region or a smaller part of an existing entity, which Ukraine is not. It is its own country, it is simply “Ukraine”. Language is never neutral, and it is important to use language that validates existing identities rather than conforming to one outdated homogenous idea.

 

Sources:

Chappell, Bill. “Marina Ovsyannikova: Protester on Russian TV news is arrested.” NPR, 15 

Chayka, Kyle. “Ukraine Becomes the World’s “First TikTok War.” The New Yorker, 3 March 2022

Paul, Kari. “TikTok was ‘just a dancing app’. Then the Ukraine war started.” The Guardian, 20 March 2022

Ramsay, Stuart. “Sky News team’s harrowing account of their violent ambush in Ukraine this week.” Sky News, 5 March 2022 

Sardarizadeh, Shayan. “Ukraine war: False TikTok videos draw millions of views.” BBC, 25 April 2022

Snowden, Collette. “Guns, tanks and Twitter: how Russia and Ukraine are using social media as the war drags on.” The Conversation, 5 April 2022