The risks of symbiotic relationship between terrorism and the media in media coverage of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine

Introduction. The symbiotic relationship between terrorism and the media may have destructive media effects on society in peacetime, but under wartime conditions, these effects may intensify, pose new threats, and weaken the state’s position in fighting against the enemy.
Relevance of the study. Identifying and analyzing these risks is a critical and relevant topic and scientific task during Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, which has significantly scaled after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to analyze the risks of the symbiotic relationship between terrorism and the media in the coverage of Russia’s aggression by Ukrainian journalists.
Methodology. The negative consequences of the symbiotic relationship between terrorism and the media are identified through the analysis of scientific and media criticism articles. The risks of such ties during Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine were determined by induction, reasoning by analogy, ascent from the abstract to the concrete, synthesis, and generalization.
Results. The disproportionate to the overall war threat, overly dramatic and sensitive, sensationalized, detailed coverage of Russia’s terrorist practices in the Ukrainian media can lead to destructive media influence desired by the enemy: spreading fear, panic and paralyzing pessimism among Ukrainians, which turn them into a dysfunctional, disorganized society incapable of mobilizing resources under existential threats; such a society usually makes more significant emotional, irrational political pressure on the authorities making concede to terrorists; polarization of public opinion and internal political destabilization; Ukrainians who are latent supporters of Russia may perceive massive terrorist attacks as a manifestation of Russian tremendous military capability and a call to action (risks of collaboration and sabotage); distraction of public attention from other problems, such as losses on the battlefield; obtaining information from the media about the psychological state of society, countermeasures of the security forces (OSINT intelligence), etc.
Conclusions. When covering Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, Ukrainian journalists need to weaken the symbiotic relationship between terrorism and the media. They should develop a media frame for covering the Russian Federation’s terror that provides objective and comprehensive information for citizens and does not cause long-term destructive media effects on Ukrainian society, as well as indirect assistance to the enemy. Ukrainian media professionals can use the article’s results and journalistic examples to formulate or improve their editorial policy on media coverage of Russia’s terror in Ukraine.

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