Ukrainian Media Space During the Pandemic Period: the Religious Aspect

S. Kozyryatska

Abstract


The purpose of the article is to investigate the peculiarities of news presentation on the religious topics by means of Ukrainian media and self-presentation of Christian denominations in the Ukrainian media space during a pandemic period.

Research methods. According to the purpose of the research, a number of such methods was used: observation (to collect primary empirical materials), inductive-deductive (to define and describe the peculiarities of messages on religious topics); comparison, analysis, generalization.

Results. According to the results of the analysis of the headlines and the content of media, the following tendencies in the Ukrainian media space was identified: 1) recognition of the church as an institution as a whole the cause of outbreaks of COVID-19 in the regions (early 2020); 2) special interest in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) due to its violation of quarantine regulations and growing statistics of morbidity (during the year), and emphasis on this denomination in the news; 3) manipulation in the headlines of online media materials with the purpose of attracting attention to the published materials or to the media source; 4) inaccuracy in the facts provided; 5) usage the statements of church hierarchs in the headings of published materials without marking direct speech. The following peculiarities of self-presentation of Christian denominations in the media space have been defined: 1) UOC-MP – from military fervour (the appeals to ignore quarantine prescriptions, unquestioning faith in the power of religious ritual) through partial acceptance of the situation (simultaneous invitation to participate in the contactful religious practices and declaration of «observance of social distance») to the position of «a victim» («martyr who is persecuted») as a result of strong pressure from the media; 2) the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) politics is the emphasized demonstration of social responsibility and readiness for change according to the requirements of the time.

Novelty is that the tendencies in the coverage on the religious topics during the pandemic period (2020) and the peculiarities of the self-presentation of Christian denominations in the Ukrainian media space have been identified.

Practical significance. The results of the research can be used in a comprehensive investigation of religious journalism in Ukraine and as educational material in the training of future journalists.

Key words: media space, religious topics, fact checking, headlines, self-presentation.


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.32840/cpu2219-8741/2021.1(45).8

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