SOCIO-POLITICAL EVENTS IN UKRAINE IN THE DISCOURSE OF DONETSK MASS MEDIA OF GREEK NATIONAL MINORITIES (2014–2015)

Abstract

The article reveals the coverage of the Donetsk national media of Greek national minorities in socio-political events in Ukraine in 2014-2015. The following newspapers were used for the study – «Hellenes of Ukraine», «Chronos», «Kambana» and «Selskaya Nov». As a result, the author concludes that the primary task for the Greek media was to convey their position on the events of that time, which was to support the unity of Ukraine. Later, they expressed the attitude of Greek society to the Revolution of Dignity, Russia’s armed aggression, which, despite isolated critical materials, reflected the official state position. However, in some materials of «Selskaya Nov» ideological stamps were spread, which posed a threat to the information security of Ukraine, which was apparently due to its subordination to the district authorities, which belonged to the team of the Party of Regions.
As a result, the coverage and analysis of the discourse of Donetsk mass media of Greek national minorities on socio-political events in Ukraine showed that at the initial stage their main goal was to convey the official position of the FGSU on the latter. In the future, the main source of information was the newspaper «Ellina Ukrainy», as the official bulletin of FGSU. However, its pages also contained critical material that contradicted the official position of Greek society. Also later, explanations began to appear regarding the Revolution of Dignity, armed aggression in the vision of the Greeks, which reflected the Ukrainian view of these events. Only Selkaya Novy periodically published materials that reflected hostile ideological clichés, in particular about the «civil war». This trend continued throughout 2014, but the following year, with the appointment of a new local government, the newspaper’s editorial policy changed.