War on frames: Text mining of conflict in Russian and Ukrainian news agency coverage on Telegram during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022

Abstract

This article discusses the results of verbal framing analysis of the conflict in news published on Telegram channels by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti (RIAN) and the Ukrainian news agency (UNIAN) during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The analysis, using the text mining method, shows differences between how a more authoritarian and more competitive regime uses social media to construct strategic narratives. RIAN benefits from a technical frame that has not changed throughout the war although the reality on the ground has been evolving dramatically. It focuses on military issues and international rivalry (e.g. sanctions) because the Kremlin focuses on it. UNIAN, on the other hand, uses the moralizing frame of conflict which is more flexible and has been developed in response to changes on the ground – from discussions about the possibility of the invasion to humanitarian tragedy to war crimes, and to creating a more essentialized image of the enemy (‘rashists’).