Russia re-envisions the world: strategic narratives in Russian broadcast and news media during 2015

ABSTRACT

This study examines the strategic narratives embedded in Russia broadcast and news media to determine how the country advances a narrative framework portraying the Kremlin’s world view as propagated through Russian media. We argue these narratives help construct Russian identity in building domestic cohesion while fending off criticisms by Western nations. The study furthers our theoretical understanding of public diplomacy and global narratives by drawing from the work of rhetoricians and IR scholars in addressing how domestic and international narratives become tied together for strategic purposes and their reception by local actors. We analyzed 1016 broadcast and online news segments from 17 different sources representing governmental and official news sites, oppositional sites, and independent news sources. Two studies were conducted focusing on one particular ‘contour’ of the Russian worldview: Russian multilateral engagement through BRICS, SCO, and Iranian nuclear negotiations as well as media portrayals of NATO. The study concludes by discussing strategies for effective messaging.

KEYWORDS:

• Strategic narratives
• Russian media
• international communication
• public diplomacy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Robert Hinck (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an assistant professor of Communication at Monmouth College.

Randolph Kluver (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is the Dean of Global Studies and Partnerships at Oklahoma State University.

Skye Cooley (Ph.D., University of Alabama) is an assistant professor in the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University.