CDA OF GOEBBELS’S PRINCIPLES OF PROPAGANDA IN RT’S COVERAGE OF RUSSIA’S WAR ON UKRAINE

Abstract

The present paper looks into the connections between the propagandistic concepts of the Nazi Germany known as Joseph Goebbels’s Propaganda Principles and modern discursive practices of Russia’s state-funded news provider RT International through critical discourse analysis.The purpose of the paper is to analyze the similarities and discrepancies between J. Goebbels’ principles of propaganda and the modern media practices of RT International in the service of ideology that has been used for years to justify Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February2022. The paper attempts to refute the assumptions of Russian media outlet RT that it fights Nazism elsewhere, but does so by resorting to the same Nazi techniques, including legitimation tools, emotional manipulation, the use of symbols and slogans, and other discursive means to influence public opinion.With the method of critical discourse analysis or CDA established and developed by N. Fairclough this research investigates the biased journalistic discursive practices on RT. These include representation techniques and textual analysis to identify tendentious language.The paper applies a CDA approach towards the lesser researched discursive practices of a recently established Russian news provider RT and seeks to uncover its hitherto unexplored systematic textual techniques in the service of ideology.This research brings to light the selective and biased presentation of information, repetition of key messages, framing of news stories to align with specific ideological perspectives on RT. The paper also solicits further research into the concept of propaganda and the studies of contemporary media communication. The present paper looks into the connections between the propagandistic concepts of the Nazi Germany known as Joseph Goebbels’s Propaganda Principles and modern discursive practices of Russia’s state-funded news provider RT International through critical discourse analysis.The purpose of the paper is to analyze the similarities and discrepancies between J. Goebbels’ principles of propaganda and the modern media practices of RT International in the service of ideology that has been used for years to justify Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February2022. The paper attempts to refute the assumptions of Russian media outlet RT that it fights Nazism elsewhere, but does so by resorting to the same Nazi techniques, including legitimation tools, emotional manipulation, the use of symbols and slogans, and other discursive means to influence public opinion.With the method of critical discourse analysis or CDA established and developed by N. Fairclough this research investigates the biased journalistic discursive practices on RT. These include representation techniques and textual analysis to identify tendentious language.The paper applies a CDA approach towards the lesser researched discursive practices of a recently established Russian news provider RT and seeks to uncover its hitherto unexplored systematic textual techniques in the service of ideology.This research brings to light the selective and biased presentation of information, repetition of key messages, framing of news stories to align with specific ideological perspectives on RT. The paper also solicits further research into the concept of propaganda and the studies of contemporary media communication.