Formation of the Ukraine’s Image in the Media Space of Spain (1991-2013)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2024.05.156Keywords:
Ukraine’s image, media space of Spain, Spanish-speaking world, image characteristics, narrativesAbstract
The purpose is to study the formation of stereotypes of the image of Ukraine in the Spanish media from the moment of independence to the beginning of the war against our state. The key image characteristics of Ukraine were identified, their transformation in the process of historical development was traced, and the factors that influenced the formation of the national image were clarified.
The scientific novelty consists in the reconstruction of a complex image of our country in the eyes of the Spanish-speaking audience, carried out based on the analysis of a wide source base of materials from two leading Spanish media (13 046 publications were processed). The work is interdisciplinary.
During its preparation, methods of monitoring, content and discourse analysis, and comparative analysis were used; the application of problem-chronological and historical-comparative methods made it possible to identify influencing factors and trace the process of image formation in its historical retrospect.
Conclusions. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the attention of the Spanish-speaking world was, although not significant, but showed constant tendencies toward the coverage of events in Ukraine. The main problem of Ukraine’s image during the studied period is the identification with Russia and the Russian cultural space and the lack of a clear representation of its own national identity and cultural identity in the international arena. The lack of a strategic approach to the presentation of Ukraine led to the fact that the image was formed chaotically, and the presentation of the state was largely reduced to the coverage of significant events in our history or high-profile scandals. The consequence of the lack of systematic work on promoting our narratives and image formation was the dominance of negative connotations such as “corruption”, “weakness of the government”, and “poverty” in the information space of the mass media. On the other hand, the great potential of promoting cultural narratives, technological achievements, our identity and originality didn’t receive enough coverage and was mostly reduced to the coverage of iconic sports or cultural events or personalities (which, moreover, were often even attributed to Russian culture). The situation changed after the Orange Revolution when the initial understanding of Ukraine as a European country appeared — however, only after the Euromaidan events we saw that the narratives of “post-Soviet republic” and “Slavic people” were being replaced by the perception of “Eastern European country”, “strategic element”, etc. At the same time, negative connotations don’t lose their weight, and the focus of attention shifts again very quickly to the shortcomings of the legal system, political crises, corruption, etc. The lack of promotion of our own cultural product, history, and national identity created a certain vacuum of understanding, which later allowed Russian propaganda to fill this niche and impose on a significant part of the Spanish-speaking world the perception of our country as a country of Russian influence.
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