Ukraine, Mainstream Media and Conflict Propaganda

Abstract

In several recent cases of actual or attempted regime change, Western governments alleged their opponents’ possession of weapons of mass destruction as pretexts for war. Many such allegations are now known to have been false or exaggerated. The Ukraine crisis (since 2013) is arguably of a different order of concern, since it has invoked the participation, in one sense or another, of the United States, the European Union and Russia, each of which possesses abundant nuclear weapons capacity. Can Western consumers of mainstream media news, potentially now more informed of the failures of mainstream media to exercise due caution in the face of their own governments’ propaganda, reasonably expect superior future performance? This paper finds little basis for optimism. Drawing from a broader work that monitors mainstream and alternative media, the study identifies 10 key narratives that together forge the battlefield for information warfare between nuclear powers and, with particular respect to mainstream, Western media coverage, the problematic beliefs, assumptions and presumptions that these media invite their audiences to ingest. One of the narratives is considered in detail: the events that took place in Crimea, Odessa and Eastern Ukraine between February and October 2014.

KEYWORDS:

• alternative media
• BRICS
• international conflict
• mainstream media
• propaganda
• Ukraine

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.