The Image of the Political Leadership of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the “Rzeczpospolita” Daily in the Context of Russia’s War in Ukraine (2021–2023)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the media image of Olaf Scholz’s political leadership in the period immediately preceding Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and during the war until the conference on the future of Ukraine held in Saudi arabia in Jeddah. The author used the method of content analysis, the method of systematic literature review and the method of analysis and synthesis. The image of Scholz in the “Rzeczpospolita” daily is ambivalent and reflects the so-called Realpolitik. The German chancellor has been presented as a politician who supports Ukraine basically only at the declarative level, while the media image of Germany’s real actions is inconsistent with the chancellor's verbal message. In the analyzed daily, the image of the head of the German government is that of a politician who intends to maintain business relations with Russia and return to the business-as-usual policy with the Russian Federation. Scholz is presented as a politician who does not support Ukraine in its aspirations related to membership in NATO and the European Union. The article increases the cognitive value in the area of research on the media image of Europe’s political leaders in the context of the war in Ukraine led by the Russian Federation.