Browsing by Author "WORKNESH BEGNA"

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    FRAMING THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NEWS BY BBC AND RT WORLD.
    (HAWASSA UNIVERSITY, 2023-11) WORKNESH BEGNA
    Nowadays, news organizations are settled in the heart of conflict zones and have been crucial players in informing the public and shaping its understanding of specific issues. The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine is happening in the military as well as in the information sphere. Leaning on the media outlet, its audiences see a very different picture of the war. This study examined how the BBC and RT portrayed the war between Russia and Ukraine, covering the first month of the war. The general objective of the study is to explore how the BBC and RT media outlets are framing the war between Russia and Ukraine in their daily news reports posted on their official websites. The research employed a comparative analysis of the portrayal of the warring countries in Western and Russian media. The research employed a qualitative research approach and an exploratory research design. Some 52 website news stories from both, 26 from each medium, were selected using the purposive sampling method. Framing theory and agenda setting theory were used to guide and interpret the findings. Both news media have different perspectives and framings of the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war. From the beginning, BBC News calls it a ‘war’ or an ‘invasion’, while RT News calls it a ‘special military operation’. The BBC condemned the Russian aggression, while RT claimed that Russia was defending its national interests and security. The result of the analysis revealed that there were noticeable differences in the choice of frames for reporting refugees, civilians, and military fatalities between both media under study. BBC news stories were mostly about Ukraine, whereas RT News stories mostly narrate the Russian government announcements and offer their justifications. Analysis revealed that the most dominant frames used in the BBC were the military conflict frames, human interest frames, and geopolitical conflict frames, whereas RT used predominantly justification frames, attribution of responsibility frames, and military aid frames. BBC News and RT News portrayed Ukraine's war differently, with BBC News describing it as an illegal invasion by Russia, while RT News defended Russia's security interests. The researcher recommends that BBC and RT World enhance their portrayal of the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict by offering diverse, credible information, avoiding misinformation, and upholding professional standards and ethical principles.