Dimensions of the Ukrainian War in British Press: A Topic Modeling Approach

Abstract

Media news around the world contains powerful signals for understanding governments' thoughts and public reactions to domestic or foreign conflicts. Although the development of information technologies makes it possible to evaluate this big data in digital media and see perspectives on international issues, few studies have been conducted on news media. This article aims to investigate the dimensions in the British press surrounding the Ukraine War, which began on February 24, 2022. In this context, we examine 14,316 news articles covering the war in Ukraine from The Guardian, The Daily Mail, and The Times over the first 16 months using the LDA method, followed by advanced analyses. Through statistical analysis, the frequencies of the dimensions appearing in the news were compared and their intersections were examined. Additionally, thematic differences in the coverage of the Ukraine War were observed among British newspapers with different political tendencies. This study is one of the first to reveal the main dimensions of the war through newspaper coverage, aiming to understand the dimensions of the conflict affecting a country that is not directly involved in the war but aligned with one side.