Critical discourse analysis of Bucha massacre and Kherson liberation in the articles of New York Times and Le Monde

Abstract

Ukraine has started to appear frequently in newspaper headlines across the world, sparking a public backlash in reaction to the terrible events after the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. A number of national media across the world consistently covers the news about the development of war on the territory of Ukraine. This paper aims to investigate the articles published in two influential media outlets: Le Monde and The New York Times with attention to two events that happened during the first year of the war: the Bucha massacre and the liberation of Kherson. The articles will be analyzed through the three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis proposed by Norman Fairclough. The thesis consists of the theoretical framework chapter, which includes a historical background to the conflict, aspects of media representation and news construction, methodology and literature review section, and an empirical chapter, which includes the analysis of 20 articles and a further discussion.