In order to get information about protests and social movements that are going on somewhere in the world, people consider the news for keeping up to date. The coverage of protests and other news which are provided by the mass media in general, need to be looked at from a critical perspective. When political dissent changes into a crisis, threatening to escalate as it was the case in Kiev at the end of 2013, then the state responses with the policing of protest, which can be defined as the "police handling of protest events - a more neutral description for what protesters usually refer to as repression and the state as law and order" (Porta & Reiter, 1998, p. 1). Reputation and people´s opinion about the general situation of a crisis and the executive power which has to carry out the instructions of the state can be shaped by news media to a great extent. Since the citizen is not in attendance of the protests and for the majority of people, the main source of information about the situation are indeed the mass media. It is consequently logic that they have a substantial impact on public opinion. Thus, the question that arises here is how far this exerted media influence can get. Therefore the news consumer needs to be aware of the background and context of the source that has been chosen. As a consequence, this research addresses media consumers, who not only passively read the news for example, but are also interested in scrutinising and questioning the source itself critically. Of course any form of media can have a manipulative tendency, no matter if Western or non-Western media. Also news media can be biased, depending on the political background the media coverage follows and supports. Without forgetting that, this thesis, however, concentrates on one specific Western newspaper, namely dieZeit, its coverage and distorting potential. News media are always part of politics as well - it is a mutual interference between knowledge and power, which is also topic of Michel Foucault´s theory. In this thesis, the interaction between knowledge and power and the conducted discourse by the news will be investigated more. In short, the protests in Kiev, going on between the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, provide an interesting case study for questions about the more concrete role played by Western mass media coverage in a contemporary social movement.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction to the topic
1.1. Societal relevance, research question and the benefit of answering
1.2. Attempt to a hypothesis
2. The Ukrainian Euromaidan protests from 2013 to 2014
3. Problems during the media coverage of protests
4. Critique on Western news coverage about the Euromaidan protests
5. Foucault´s understanding of knowledge and power
6. Foucault´s Discourse Theory
7. Method – The Critical Discourse Analysis
7.1. Choosing a news source – A newspaper as part of the mass media
7.2. Preparing for the Analysis - Collecting data
8. DieZeit: The newspaper´s profile and discursive categories
8.1 Going through their articles – The EU knows, is needed and selfless
8.2 The celebration of the Opposition leader
8.3 Diction, undertone and zebra-thinking
9. Discussion
10. Conclusion
11. Bibliography
Research Objectives & Topics
This thesis examines how the Western press, specifically the German newspaper dieZeit, documented the Ukrainian Euromaidan protests (2013–2014). It explores the intersection of knowledge and power, aiming to demonstrate how news coverage can frame public discourse and reinforce specific power structures through normative bias and subjective reporting.
- Analysis of media distortion and selection bias in protest coverage.
- Application of Foucault’s discourse theory to news media narratives.
- Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of dieZeit online articles.
- Evaluation of "friend-foe" mentalities and the construction of the "good opposition" vs. "bad government."
- Investigation of the power-knowledge relationship between the West and the Ukraine.
Excerpt from the Book
8.3 Diction, undertone and zebra-thinking
Apparently, obviously or probably are words which have been used very often. While reading one got the feeling that the author was not sure and that the given information was rather based on speculations or conjectures. It would be way too long to list all parts where this has been done, but some of them were for example: "apparently, the refusal to sign the agreement with the EU was not an autonomous decision by the Ukrainian leadership. Everything indicates that it was the rapidly increased pressure from Moscow, which ultimately tipped the scales” (Umland, 2013). Even though there are good reasons to state this, it is still no evidence.
The diction of the authors plays a very important role. Words can have great impact and the choice the authors made and their writing style influence the objectivity of the text and may reveal their own personal point of view. In case of the authors of dieZeit, it was conspicuous how the words differed from each other, depending on the action, situation or person the article was written about.
Particularly the headlines were often disputable. One of them says "for Yanukovych only the clan counts" ("Der Klan", 2014). The word clan has often negative connotations, which the author must have been aware of. Also the headline "This is how Yanukovych buys his demonstrators" ("Demonstrantenkauf", 2013) or "Retention of power in Yanukovychs´ manner" can be considered as an aspersion or ironic remark (Voswinkel, 2013). And "a wannabe-dictator who has miscalculated" is also more to make sport of him rather than being objective (Joffe, 2014). But when it comes to a Western person, there is talk of "important guests", such as Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign commissioner.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction to the topic: This chapter defines the societal relevance of media coverage on protests and establishes the research focus on dieZeit regarding the Ukraine crisis.
2. The Ukrainian Euromaidan protests from 2013 to 2014: This section provides a historical timeline of the Euromaidan events to create a factual foundation for the subsequent analysis.
3. Problems during the media coverage of protests: This chapter discusses general challenges of journalism, such as selection bias, time pressure, and the struggle for visibility.
4. Critique on Western news coverage about the Euromaidan protests: This section outlines existing criticisms of German media coverage by scholars like Gabriele Krone-Schmalz and Simon Weiß.
5. Foucault´s understanding of knowledge and power: This chapter introduces Foucault’s theoretical framework regarding the omnipresence of power and its connection to discourse.
6. Foucault´s Discourse Theory: This section details how discourse organizes knowledge and exerts power within society, influencing the way reality is perceived.
7. Method – The Critical Discourse Analysis: This chapter explains the methodological approach of CDA as a tool for interpreting ideologies and agendas within written texts.
8. DieZeit: The newspaper´s profile and discursive categories: This chapter presents the empirical findings from analyzing 130 articles, identifying patterns like personalization and black-and-white thinking.
9. Discussion: This section synthesizes the findings, reflecting on the power of media to shape public opinion and the increasing role of critical online discourse.
10. Conclusion: This final chapter summarizes the research results, confirming that dieZeit’s discourse is not a neutral construct but a culturally and politically situated evaluation.
Keywords
Western Media Coverage, Newspaper, Foucault, Discourse Analysis, Maidan Protests, Selection Bias, Knowledge and Power, Euromaidan, Media Criticism, Objectivity, Diction, Ukraine Crisis, Political Framing, Critical Discourse Analysis, Rhetorical Means.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the fundamental focus of this thesis?
The thesis investigates the subjectivity of Western media coverage, using the German newspaper dieZeit as a case study to analyze how it reported on the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine.
What are the central thematic fields?
The work centers on the relationship between knowledge and power, media bias, the impact of discourse on political framing, and the role of the press in constructing social realities.
What is the primary research question?
The research asks how a specific Western media source discursively constructs, places, and portrays the Ukraine during a period of crisis, and whether this portrayal reinforces existing power structures.
Which scientific method is applied?
The author employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) combined with elements of Grounded Theory to examine online articles and interpret the motivations and agendas behind the chosen language.
What is covered in the main body?
The main body includes a historical overview of the Ukraine crisis, a discussion on the problems of protest media coverage, theoretical chapters on Foucault, and the detailed analysis of dieZeit’s reporting.
Which keywords characterize this work?
Key terms include Media Bias, Critical Discourse Analysis, Foucault, Power Relations, Euromaidan, Selection Bias, and Discourse Theory.
How does the author define "zebra-thinking" in the context of the analyzed articles?
Zebra-thinking refers to a black-and-white mode of representation where the media depicts parties solely as either "good" or "bad" without nuance, specifically casting the opposition as the "good" side and the government as the "bad" side.
Why did the author specifically choose dieZeit for the case study?
dieZeit was chosen due to its high circulation and status as a leading German weekly newspaper, which makes its potential to influence public opinion and shape discourse particularly significant.
What conclusion does the author draw regarding media neutrality?
The author concludes that media discourse is never a neutral construct. Instead, it acts as a cultural construct that evaluates events based on the values and background of the media organization.
- Citar trabajo
- Ellen Egyptien (Autor), 2014, Protest Policing and the Magnitude of Distortion by the Western Press, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/320052
