Framing the image of Russia in the British media during the World Cup 2018

ABSTRACT

The research is focused on the problem of the ambiguity in the perception of Russia in the British media during the 2018 FIFA World Cup and based on the competing frames theory by J. Druckman. The content analysis of 751 articles about Russia from the British broadsheets and tabloids was conducted to highlight five frames: ‘Russia as the enemy of Great Britain,’ ‘Russia as the potential partner of Great Britain,’ ‘Russia as the unsafe state,’ ‘Russia as the worthy host of the World Cup,’ ‘Russia as a country with a rich culture.’ The results show that negative perception of Russia prevails in the British media field, especially in the broadsheets. Despite the slight positive dynamics during the World Cup, by the end of the games, the frequency of frames returns to pre-championship values. The research contributes to the development of competing frames theory and allows testing the frame strength criteria.

KEYWORDS:

• World cup
• framing
• competing frames
• country image
• British media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Nadezhda Ozornina is a research assistant at the Institute of Education at the National Research University Higher School of Economics and an undergraduate student obtaining her bachelor degree at the School of Integrated Communications at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia. Her interests lie in the intersection of media studies and international relations.

Alexander Mannin is a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication, Media and Design, School of Integrated Communications at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia. His interests lie in the intersection of communication theory and communication in education.