МОНОГРАФІЇ
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://ekhsuir.kspu.edu/handle/123456789/19941
Browse
Item THE FOURTH REICH: DEPICTING THE ENEMY IN THE OFFICIAL OCCUPATION MEDIA OF KHERSON OBLAST(2024) Homanyuk, M.; Гоманюк, М.The chapter examines the portrayal of the enemy, namely Ukrainians and the leadership of Ukraine, in official publications of the Kherson Oblast occupation administration. The study collected empirical data from printed newspapers and official Telegram channels and covered the period from 18 March to 11 November 2022, the latter date being the day when the Ukrainian army liberated Kherson. The research focused on investigating how the enemy image was constructed and deployed to accomplish practical objectives for the invaders. In addition, a comparative analysis was conducted on the contents of the official Telegram channels administered by the Kherson Oblast Military Administration controlled by Ukraine. As part of the study, it was found that since their inception, the occupying media has promoted an image of Ukrainian political and military leadership as neo-Nazis and war criminals, allegedly acting by the instructions of the ‘collective West’. Parallels with the Second World War have been frequently drawn, depicting the ‘Special Military Operation’ as a continuation of the historic conflict in which Russia, represented by both the USSR and the Russian Empire, battles against Ukraine—labelled as the ‘Fourth Reich’. The author hypothesised that the portrayal of Ukraine as an adversary was linked to several pragmatic objectives, including creating conditions that would prompt the populace to opt to relocate to Russia amidst the impending de-occupation of the region, and to generate an adverse sentiment towards residents of the occupied territories expressing a pro-Ukrainian stance to stimulate their denunciation by the rest of the population. Overall, it can be inferred that the campaign to depict Ukraine as an adversary to the inhabitants of the occupied territories was unsuccessful in achieving its objective. It is argued that the lack of control over the information space of the region by the occupying authorities, as well as the inability to find credible local spokespersons, and the predominantly derivative nature of their media products, which presented a Russian perspective on the Ukrainian news agenda, contributed to this situation.