International Broadcasting and the Conflict-related National Media Events: The Framing of EuroMaidan by the BBC and RT

Abstract

This chapter looks at the applicability of Dayan and Katz’s framework of ‘media events’ (1992) to the recent spontaneous event of EuroMaidan and how two international broadcasters, Russia Today (RT) and the BBC, managed this unpredictable and unfolding event. The wave of demonstrations and civil protests in Ukraine now labelled EuroMaidan was triggered by an abrupt refusal by Ukrainian President Yanukovich to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union. The unrest started on 21 November 2013 in the capital Kiev and soon after spread to the rest of Ukraine. It embraced a wider set of demands, including the resignation of the President, acknowledgment of human rights abuse during the suppression of the protest, extensive government corruption. EuroMaidan culminated in a set of violent clashes in mid-February 2014 leading to a so-called ‘Ukrainian revolution’ and ousting of the President. I will focus on two international broadcasters — RT and the BBC — to explore how they framed the event before it became a ‘revolution’.