Protest Policing and the Magnitude of Distortion by the Western Press

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Abstract
• Background and Method
• Introduction to the topic
• Societal relevance, research question and the benefit of answering
• Attempt to a hypothesis
• The Ukrainian Euromaidan protests from 2013 to 2014
• Problems during the media coverage of protests
• Critique on Western news coverage about the Euromaidan protests
• Foucault's understanding of knowledge and power
• Foucault's Discourse Theory
• Method The Critical Discourse Analysis
• Choosing a news source - A newspaper as part of the mass media
• Preparing for the Analysis - Collecting data
• Findings
• DieZeit: The newspaper's profile and discursive categories
• Going through their articles – The EU knows, is needed and selfless
• The celebration of the Opposition leader
• Diction, undertone and zebra-thinking
• Discussion
• Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions

What is "protest policing" according to this thesis?

It is defined as the police handling of protest events, often referred to as "repression" by protesters and "law and order" by the state.

Which specific news source is analyzed in the case study?

The study focuses on the coverage provided by the German Western newspaper "Die Zeit" regarding the Euromaidan protests.

What is the central research question?

The thesis asks how far Western media influence public opinion through the distortion and framing of social movements and state crises.

How does the thesis use Michel Foucault’s theories?

It applies Foucault's concepts of discourse and the mutual interference between knowledge and power to investigate how news media shape reality.

What is "zebra-thinking" in the context of news coverage?

It refers to a simplified black-and-white portrayal of complex political situations, often dividing actors into clear "heroes" (opposition) and "villains" (state).

What methodology is used to scrutinize the articles?

The author employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the diction, undertone, and discursive categories used by the media.