Framing the Russia-Ukraine Crisis: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Ideo-logical Strategies in British and Arab Online Newspapers
Subject Areas :Falah Abdulhasan Atiyah 1 , Sahar Najarzadegan 2 , Hussein Musa Kadhim 3 , Mehdi Vaez Dalili 4
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
Keywords: media framing, critical discourse analysis, ideological bias, Russia-Ukraine conflict, cross-cultural journalism,
Abstract :
This study investigates the representation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis in British and Arab online newspapers through a critical discourse analysis (CDA) framework based on Fairclough’s three-dimensional model. By analyzing news articles from The Guardian, The Sun, Arab News, and The Gulf News published between June 2022 and April 2023, the study examines linguistic strategies, ideological positioning, and sociopolitical influences shaping media narratives. The findings reveal distinct framing patterns: British newspapers, particularly The Sun, employ emo-tionally charged and polarized language reinforcing an anti-Russian stance, while The Guardian maintains a more balanced yet subtly pro-Western perspective. In contrast, Arab newspapers, especially The Gulf News, present a nuanced and analytical discourse, often contextualizing the conflict within broader geopolitical and economic frameworks. These variations highlight the role of media in constructing public perceptions and emphasize the interplay between regional political interests and journalistic practices. The study contributes to discourse analysis and me-dia studies by offering cross-regional insights into the ideological framing of global conflicts, underscoring the need for critical engagement with news narratives.
Alyahya, A. 2023. "Critical Discourse Analysis of Newspaper Articles De-claring the Outbreak of War in Ukraine: The Washington Post vs. The Moscow Times." International Jour-nal of Society, Culture & Language 11(2): 47-59. https://doi.org/10.22034/ijscl.2023.1982871.2969.
Beaugrande, R. D., and W. U. Dressler. 1981. Introduction to Text Linguistics. London: Longman.
Berelson, B. 1952. Content Analysis in Communication Research. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Berger, P. L., and T. Luckmann. 1967. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. London: Penguin UK.
Brusylovska, O., and I. Maksymenko. 2022. "Discourse Analysis of Media on the War 2022 in Ukraine: The Case of Russia." Regional Science Policy & Practice 15. https://doi.org/10.1111/rsp3.12579.
Eggins, S. 2004. An Introduction to System-ic Functional Linguistics. 2nd ed. London: Continuum.
Entman, R. 1993. "Framing: Toward Clari-fication of a Fractured Paradigm." The Journal of Communication 43(4): 51-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x.
Fairclough, N. 1989. Language and Power. London: Longman.
Fairclough, N. 2006. Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Fairclough, N. 2013. Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Lan-guage. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Gee, J. P. 2014. An Introduction to Dis-course Analysis: Theory and Method. 4th ed. London: Routledge.
Halliday, M. A. K., and R. Hasan. 1976. Cohesion in English. London: Long-man.
Herman, E. S., and N. Chomsky. 1988. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. New York: Pantheon Books.
Latif, F., S. Zaidi, S. Naz, U. Idrees, M. Arslan, S. Yar, and S. Ali. 2024. "Constructing the Other: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Ukrainian-Russian War in Western Press." Kurd-ish Studies 12(3): 193–204. https://doi.org/10.53555/ks.v12i3.3024.
Lewin, K. 1947. "Frontiers in Group Dy-namics: Concept, Method and Reality in Social Science; Social Equilibria and Social Change." Human Relations 1(1): 5-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872674700100103.
McCombs, M. E., and D. L. Shaw. 1972. "The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media." The Public Opinion Quarterly 36(2): 176–187. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2747787.
Mohammed, F. Q. 2023. "A Critical Dis-course Analysis of News on the Rus-sian-Ukrainian Crisis in CNN and RT English News Channels." The Interna-tional and Political Journal 54(1): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.31272/ipj.54.25.
Pavlichenko, L. 2022. "Polarization in Me-dia Political Discourse on the War in Ukraine: Critical Discourse Analysis." Alfred Nobel University Journal of Philology 2(24): 214-223. https://doi.org/10.32342/2523-4463-2022-2-24-18.
Selvarajah, S., and L. Fiorito. 2023. "Media, Public Opinion, and the ICC in the Russia–Ukraine War." Journalism and Media 4(3): 760-789. https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia4030048.
Szostek, J. 2014. "Russia and the News Media in Ukraine: A Case of 'Soft Power'?" East European Politics & Societies 28(3): 463-486. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325414537297.
Van Dijk, T. A. 1993. "Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis." Discourse & Society 4(2): 249-283.
Wodak, R. 1996. Disorders of Discourse. London: Longman.
Xu, B., and Y. Tao. 2023. "National Identi-ty in Media Discourses from Russia and Ukraine: Amid the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War." Zeitschrift für Slawistik 68(3): 419-439. https://doi.org/10.1515/slaw-2023-0021.
