Analytical and News Articles: American, British and Spanish Representation of the Image of the State in Comparison

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the representation of the image of the state (Russia and the United States) in the American, British and Spanish analytical and news articles in comparative aspect. The study is conducted on the material of electronic versions of articles taken from modern American (“The New York Times”, “The Wall Street Journal”, “The Washington Post”), British (“The Guardian”, “The Independent”, “The Times”, “Financial Times”) and Spanish media (“El País”, “La Vanguardia”, “El Mundo”) in 2022. The purpose of the work is achieved by applying the complex method of lexico-semantic and stylistic analysis, interpretive analysis, the comparative method. It is established that each state strives to strengthen its positive image in the media space. Often this happens due to the purposeful belittling and deterioration of the image of those states that are considered competitors, ideological opponents, or enemies in the eyes of the readership. We will consider in the article how the media influence the image of the country and how the media image of the state is formed. We have selected analytical and news articles which create the images of two influential states Russia and the USA in comparison in different linguocultures. We examined the image of Russia and the United States based on the classification of V. Slavina and A. Oleinikov. As a result of the study, it was found out that in 2022 the opinion of the American, British and Spanish media about Russia and the United States is formed on the basis of already existing negative or positive attitudes and depends on the events taking place in the world. Public opinion, the moods of the ruling elites, the economic and foreign policy situation are changing, therefore the nature of the coverage of information in analytical and news media articles is also changing. The image of Russia in both analytical and news articles seems to us negative. The image of the United States, created by the American, British and Spanish media in news articles is neutral, there is no assessment of American government and what is happening on the territory of the U.S. In analytical articles, the image of the United States is criticized. An analysis of the factual material showed that the smallest number of articles is devoted to the image of the territory and the image of the people. The images of political leaders - V. Putin and D. Biden - are the main dominants in the formation of the image of the country in news and analytical articles. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the study of the representation of the images of Russia and the United States in American, British and Spanish news and analytical articles in a comparative aspect. The prospect of the research is further consideration of the image of Great Britain and Russia in interviews in comparative aspect.