18SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS
EXTERNAL MEDIA IMAGE OF UKRAINE (BASED ON "THE GUARDIAN" MATERIALS)
Tarnavska Iryna Olehivna, PhD Student of the Department of Mass and International Communication of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Ukraine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31435/rsglobal_ijitss/30092019/6674
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the article is to identify the main tendencies of the coverage of Ukrainian themes by the British media resource The Guardian during 20132019. The selection of the research object is based on the media type ("quality newspapef', which does not depend on the influence of large capital, political parties and any other institutions), its reputation and the developed multi-platform model of content distribution among the international audience. Having used the methods of monitoring, comparative and quantitative content analysis of the array of texts, published on the online resource theguardian.com for the period of time from 2013 till 2018, the specificity of the presentation of Ukraine by one of the most influential international media is analyzed and as a result, we can state that it tends to be of a sporadic nature. The study is based on the manual search of publications, which included over 4,000 materials of various genres on Ukraine-related topics. As the selection criteria, we used the thematic direction of the texts, the chronological framework (2013-2018), and the context of events. The survey results have showed that there are certain gaps in the implementation of Ukraine's information policy, the level of interest in Ukrainian topics depends on the degree of events' resonance, and the main focus of the British media is on the reforms implementation, the introduction of a visa-free regime with the EU, the provision of financial assistance to Ukraine and adaptation of Ukrainian legislation in line with the European law norms. The study has found that there is a rather negative trend: the British press mentions Ukraine mainly in the context of the actualization of Russian issues, which does not contribute to the formation of a country's positive image among international community. Only a competent systematic information policy, which ensures the nuances of a comprehensive coverage of Ukrainian eurointegration aspects, can improve the situation, described in the article. Given the active phase of the European integration processes in Ukraine, namely the introduction of a relevant action plan and the reforming process in the key public spheres in line with EU requirements, it is extremely important to inform the global community about the progress, being made towards the European future of Ukraine. The following can be achieved through the formulation and dissemination of clear "messages" about Ukraine among the international media that will protect the country's interests, improve its image and ensure a permanent presence in the global information space.
Citation: Tarnavska I. O. (2019) External Media Image of Ukraine (Based on "The Guardian" Materials).
International Journal of Innovative Technologies in Social Science. 6(18). doi: 10.31435/rsglobal_ijitss/30092019/6674
Copyright: © 2019 Tarnavska I. O. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
1. Introduction.
Problem Formulation. The issue of representing Ukrainian topics in the international media has been relevant during the years of Ukrainian independence. Heterosterotypes, which are formed around the leading media across Ukraine, are actively discussed in the contemporary scientific media discourse. The
ARTICLE INFO
Received 28 July 2019 Accepted 23 September 2019 Published 30 September 2019
KEYWORDS
Ukrainian media image; Great Britain; The Guardian.
events over the past five years have enabled not only the rationality to monitor the publications on this topic, but also carefully study the structural and functional characteristics of the texts that shape the image of Ukraine in the global media space. This issue has been investigated in the works of the following scientists: N. V. Varekh (2014) [1], Y. Garkavenko (2015; 2017; 2017) [2; 3; 4], M. Butyrina and Y. Garkavenko (2018) [5], S. Hutchings and J. Szostek (2015) [6], E. Pond i H. Kundnami (2015) [7], R. Sakwa (2016) [8], C. Nitoiu (2016) [9], O. Boyd-Barrett (2017) [10], U. A. Mejias and N. E. Vokuev (2017) [11], M. Ojala and P. Mervi (2017) [12] etc. However, there is a lack of works, focusing on the constant analysis of the publications' rhetoric on Ukraine. The political and economic situation in the country, which has changed dramatically over the last five years, has significantly influenced the media practices in relation to the Ukrainian issue coverage. If, in 2013, such media as The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde and Frankfurter Allgemeine. Zeitung fur Deutschland tried to build the image of Ukraine as a potential partner, and hence focused their articles on the advantages for the country from the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, criticized the governmental actions in slowing down the signature process, outlined the prospects of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU, in 2015-2018, the situation has changed considerably.
The aim of the article is to define the main tendencies in the coverage of the Ukrainian topics by the British media The Guardian from 2013 till 2019.
2. Research Methods.
This publication contains the results of the monitoring of the online version of the British quality newspaper The Guradian (https://www.theguardian.com). This media has been selected due to the several reasons. First of all, it is a daily national newspaper that positions itself as a "quality newspaper" (high-quality paper) that does not depend on the influence of large capital, political parties and any other institutions [13]. Secondly, this media has a reputation as an arbiter in the arena of public-political events, both at the British and global level. Finally, during the period of the so-called "crisis of the paper press of the XXI century", the newspaper managed to compensate the loss from reducing the paper circulation by expanding the digital activity and providing the free access to its online content [14; 15]. Also, The Guardian shares its ideas through a paper version (in the first half of 2019, the circulation accounted for almost 135 thousand copies), the official English-language site with the open source journalism policy thequardian.com, separate websites for readers from the US and Australia, and the international weekly paper «Guardian Weekly» (for more, see [16]).
In this study, the methods of monitoring, comparative and quantitative content analysis of the whole array of texts from the online resource theguardian.com for the period from 2013 till 2018 were used. The process of selection of publications was based on the semantic content of the texts. The attempt to use the tag system was rather inefficient due to the lack of free access to use the website algorithm of advanced search. Hence, a manual search of publications was used in the research, including over 4,000 publications of various genres on Ukraine-oriented topics. With regard to the selection criteria, thematic direction of the text was used along with the chronological framework of 2013-2018 and the context of events.
3. Results and Discussion.
Starting from November 2013, namely on the eve of the Eastern Partnership Summit in 2013, during which the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU had to be signed, The Guardian initiated an active discussion on the so-called Ukrainian question: the materials, such as "The Delay of Signing the Trade Agreement with the EU considers as a victory of Vladimir Putin" (November 13, 2013), are published, in which the journalist Jan Traynor analyzes the political situation in Ukraine before the Summit, stating that the EU plans to change the vector of Ukrainian development from pro-Russian to pro-European through the signing of the Association Agreement in order to prevent the transformation of the Customs Union on the territory of the former Soviet Union into a powerful political force that can become an active competitor of the EU.
The reviewed content also allows to suggest that the signing the Agreement with Ukraine is a good political decision for the EU as a whole, however, according to Ian Traynor, if some EU member states have a neutral position towards the Treaty, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania and Germany are active supporters of the Document signature. Similar views are expressed in the article "Ukraine faces an important choice: "East-West" through the EU Agreement" (20.11.2013), and on November 21, when the Ukrainian government suspended the European integration processes, The Guardian published an article about the fact that the choice was made in favor of the East - "Ukraine stops negotiations on
the EU Trade Agreement, and Putin wins the "competition" (21.11.2013), "Russia blackmailed Ukraine for its refusal to sign the Agreement" (22.11.2013). It is important to note, however, that all the materials are written exclusively in analytical genres.
The Guardian also actively covered the events of the Revolution of Dignity in the chronological order. On November 24, 2013 the first news about Euromaidan have been started appearing, e.g. "Ukrainian protesters come to Kyiv after the failure of the EU-Ukraine agreement", "Protesters resist the police" (1.12.2013), while intermingling with the analytical articles about the events in Ukraine, predicting their development and consequences - "Ukrainian protests show the European Union still offers hope to some", in which author Ian Traynor notes: "It is not very often that the European Union starts a riot. Even rarer that people take to the barricades to support Brussels. The tired, squabbling old union may be dragging down the world economy [...], but for the hundreds of thousands of mainly young people on the streets of Kiev on Sunday, the EU is definitely worth fighting for [17]. The journalist also, like in the previous materials of The Guardian, emphasizes on the choice between East and West, which Ukraine faced before the Summit in 2013, but for the sake of holding power and undergoing some political pressure, the eastern (pro-Russian) vector of development was chosen by the country's leaders. It should be noted that through the analytical material the opinion on the appropriateness of Ukraine's return to the pro-European development path is passed through, which allows us to conclude that the EU has a clear position regarding the support of Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic development to prevent its entry into the Customs Union.
Since December 2013, The Guardian materials started being more informative than analytical, and were mainly devoted to the coverage of protests on Euromaidan "Clashes between police and protesters" (12.02.2013), "Vitalii Klitschko may be the next President of Ukraine" (12.02.2013), "The protests intensified due to distrust of the Government" (12.03.2013), "Escalation of events after Yanukovych's visit to Putin" (04.12.2013), "The protesters destroyed a statue of Lenin" (08.12.2013). At the same time, the media also published the experts' materials (opinion) in the thematic columns, devoted to the Ukrainian events review from different perspectives.
For example, John Kampfner's article "The struggle for self-identity" (11.12.2013) analyses the current Ukrainian fluctuation between the eastern and western development vectors, which, according to the author, is due to historical events (in particular, the belonging of Ukrainian lands to different states during various historical epochs, including the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, the Russian Empire etc.). As a result, there is a difference in the views on the country's foreign policy course among the population, since Lviv was previously a part of Poland, therefore it tends to be more pro-European, while cities of the eastern regions tend to be more pro-Russian. At the same time, according to the author, Kyiv is a liberal, cosmopolitan and neutral city, the center of Ukraine. The similar views are expressed by the columnist Jonathan Steele in the material "Ukraine's protests are not about a yearning for European values" (12.12.2013), in which he believes that the events of Euromaidan are the civilizational choice of Ukraine between East and West, due to its centuries-old history, beginning with the times of Kievan Rus, certain differences between the eastern and western regions of Ukraine, as well as modern political and economic processes. Simultaneously, the author considers that Ukraine takes a neutral position between the EU and Russia and tends to maintain the relations and cooperate with Europe, without breaking its ties with Russia [18].
The media covers Ukrainian topics mainly in informational and analytical genres, but the formats and genres of digital journalism, including podcasts, are sometimes used. Podcasts on Ukrainian topics are audio materials that are issued with a certain periodicity and provide an analysis of events and political processes in Ukraine through the comments of leading journalists and experts. Since December 2013, The Guardian regularly issues the following formats: "Weekly Political Podcast: Universal Loans and Protests in Ukraine" (December 2013), "Weekly Political Podcast: The Crisis in Ukraine" (March 2014).
During January-February 2014, the articles of the British quality newspaper focused on the chronological coverage of protests in Ukraine, however the number of materials has significantly been reduced in comparison with the previous months: "Kyiv becomes a battle zone as protests become fatal" (22.01.2014), "Protesting state-owned buildings are occupied in Kyiv" (24.01.2014), "Protests continue in Kyiv" (25.01.2014), "Escalation of protests" (18.02.2014) etc. Moreover, The Guardian devotes only one material to a vital and turning point event of the Revolution of Dignity - the adoption of the laws of January 16, which led to further escalation of the protest movement, - "The Ukrainian
President adopts harsh anti-protest laws" (17.01.2014).
On February 1, 2014, the newspaper publishes an article "The United States and Europe stand side by side with Ukrainians", which clearly presents the EU and US positions on Ukraine and its future, along with the editorial material "Ukraine: a crisis that affects us all", published on February 19, where the authors express a perception that events in Ukraine will have significant consequences for Russia, the EU and the world (but, the text of the article indicates important consequences primarily for the United States). However, the author also, through an analysis of the chronology of events since November 2013, concludes that the events are intended to contribute not only to the signing of the Agreement as an international instrument but also to the radical change of Ukraine's development vector to European and general geopolitical changes worldwide [19].
Since February 2014 the events in Ukraine have also been covered in a new online section of the resource, called "News blog" (see the publications "Ukrainian crisis: the EU and the US plan to impose sanctions", "Ukrainian crisis: deadly clashes run truce"). Also, in February, the newspaper issues the articles on important events for the Revolution of Dignity, including the EU sanctions introduction ("EU ministers of foreign affairs impose sanctions on Ukrainian officials - 20.02.2014), and the escape of Viktor Yanukovych ("Ukrainian protesters do not leave the streets of Kyiv despite the President's escape" - 22.02.2014). At the same time, only one material was devoted to each of these events despite their significance for Ukraine and its history. The further coverage of the chronology of Ukrainian events is continued through the publication of such materials as "Ukrainian MPs appoint a temporary President" (23.02.2014) and "The US is ready to provide support to Ukraine" (25.02.2014), symbolizing the start of US assistance provision to Ukraine.
Further materials of The Guardian focus on the Crimea issue - «Ukrainian leaders warn against the threat of separatism in the Crimea» (25.02.2014), «Vladimir Putin may take revenge on Ukraine» (26.02.2014), «The Crimean parliament is captured by unknown people» (27.02.2014), «The Crimean crisis» (28.02.2014), «Russian intervention into the Crimea may intensify the Ukrainian conflict» (1.03.2014) etc. News materials on the Crimean issues are interlaced with the analytical publications, namely: Alan Yuhas in the article "Ukraine crisis deepens: commentary and analysis on Russia in Crimea" (3.03.2014) presents the chronology of events related to the Crimea and provides an answer to the question "What can further be expected?", comparing the events in Crimea with the "chess game", where the outcome of the Cold War is played, while presenting the views of leading international analysts on the Crimean crisis, who unanimously believe that these events will lead to global geopolitical changes [20].
In March 2014, the British news about Ukraine were focused mainly on the coverage of the Crimean issue, but the analysis of the articles enables to conclude that the EU and Britain together "send strong signals" to Russia to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but the cooperation and Europe's dependence on Moscow in certain areas (Germany - in the field of energy, France - in the field of defense) doesn't allow for strong measures to be implemented, therefore the soft diplomatic methods and techniques are introduced instead. In addition, The Guardian also actively writes about the US support to Ukraine - "American financial assistance to Ukraine" (12.03.2014), "The United States does not recognize the Crimean referendum" (12.03.2014), "Putin signs an Agreement on the annexation of the Crimea" (18.03.2014) etc.
Together with a broad coverage of the Crimea-related topics since March 2014, analytical articles, predicting the possible conflict development in Ukraine start appearing. Timothy Garton Ash in the article "The focus is on Crimea, but next is the fight for Ukraine" states: "The crucial struggle is now for eastern Ukraine. If the whole of Ukraine, including the east, participates in peaceful, free and fair presidential elections on 25 May, it can survive as one independent country (minus Crimea). It will also be back on an unambiguously democratic, constitutional path. In everything the EU and the west does over the next two months, that should be our first priority. Only the criminally naive or the hardened fellow-traveller could maintain that the pro-Russian groups now working to produce chaos, disorientation and violence in cities such as Donetsk and Kharkiv" [21].
The UK press, unlike for instance the US media, which highlighted their own and European position on the Ukrainian issue, presents the position of countries, being part of the Commonwealth of Nations. In particular, The Guardian publishes an article on Australia's position on events in Ukraine -"Australia imposes sanctions against Russia after the "theft" of the Crimea" (19.03.2014).
The news of April 2014, before the presidential elections in May, focused on the sanctions on Russia and the beginning of the conflict in Donbass: "Donetsk protesters claim to be independent from
Ukraine and ask for military aid from Russia" (07.04.2014), "Donetsk pro-Russian activists are preparing for a referendum for a "new republic" (8.04.2014), "The pro-Russian protesters capture key buildings in the East" (12.04.2014). Along with the coverage of the conflict in Donbass, the British media also issues several analytical materials, providing an outlook of the development of the situation in Ukraine: "What's Next for Ukraine?" (14.04.2014), "Ukrainian Crisis: 5 possible scenarios" (14.04.2014) etc., and actively publishes news on the introduction of new EU and US sanctions against Russia: "EU prolongs sanctions against Russia because of Ukraine" (29.04.2014), "Obama and Merkel threatened with new sanctions" (2.05.2014).
It is important to emphasize that during this difficult and critical turnout, the newspaper publishes an article in the "opinion" genre, written by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, where the official writes: "The profound and pervasive crisis in Ukraine is a matter of grave concern for Russia. We understand perfectly well the position of a country which became independent just over 20 years ago and still faces complex tasks in constructing a sovereign state. Among them is the search for a balance of interests among its various regions, the peoples of which have different historical and cultural roots, speak different languages and have different perspectives on their past and present, and their country's future place in the world. Given these circumstances, the role of external forces should have been to help Ukrainians protect the foundations of civil peace and sustainable development, which are still fragile. Russia has done more than any other country to support the independent Ukrainian state, including for many years subsidising its economy through low energy prices. Last November, at the outset of the current crisis, we supported Kiev's wish for urgent consultations between Ukraine, Russia and the EU to discuss harmonising the integration process. Brussels flatly rejected it. This stand reflected the unproductive and dangerous line the EU and US have been taking for a long time. They have been trying to compel Ukraine to make a painful choice between east and west, further aggravating internal differences" [22]. This material is quite provocative and somewhat condemnable with relation to the EU-US policy and position on the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis. We consider that the text was published to present pluralism of opinions and provide different views on the problem, as well as present the official Russia's position on the Ukrainian issue.
The elections on May 25, 2014 are the culmination and turning point of the Revolution of Dignity and its consequences, and the British press devotes a lot of news and analytical materials to this topic: "Ukrainians vote in elections" (25.05.2014), "Petro Poroshenko wins the elections" (25.05.2014). Further analysis of the media articles reveals a positive attitude of the EU and the US towards the results of the elections, because every material contains the idea that Ukraine has stepped on a democratic way of development and received a hope for "bright future". Right after the elections, on May 26, 2014, The Guardian published an editorial "Ukraine: voting for Europe", which states that "despite such dangerous events as the battle for the Donetsk airport, Ukraine has changed its vector of development", and this clear message shows the positive EU attitude towards the results of the Ukrainian elections. However, the authors also write about the pivotal role of civil society and its influence on the Ukrainian history, and therefore they conclude that the 2014 elections set the new beginning and a chance for a democratic future of Ukraine [23].
After the elections, the frequency of the news about Ukraine significantly reduced and they mainly focused on the following topics:
- EU and US sanctions introduction («G7 leaders warn against a wide range of sanctions across Ukraine», 5.06.2014; «Obama and Merkel warn Russia against more harsh sanctions», 5.06.2014);
- EU and US support to Ukraine («Barack Obama expresses support for the elected president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko», 4.06.2014; «The US will provide financial support to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia», 7.05.2014);
- the overview of the situation in Donbass («The Ukrainian humanitarian crisis is worsening due to the resettlement of tens of thousands of people from the East», 12.06.2014; «7 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in a conflict in the East», 20.06.2014).
Another theme, which is covered by the UK press in 2014, is the conclusion of an Association Agreement with the EU, including the establishment of an in-depth and comprehensive free trade area. On the eve of the Document signing on June 27, the article "Ukraine will conclude an Agreement with the EU that provoked the revolution" (26.06.2014) is published in the newspaper, and only one news is devoted to the signature process itself: "Ukraine signs the Free Trade Agreement with Europe, which is a step towards the West"(27.06.2014), after which news about Ukraine are again mainly focus on the irregular coverage of events in Donbass. A number of articles was also devoted by the British press to the investigation of a
Malaysian plane crash over Ukraine: "Malaysian Airlines MN17 crashed over Ukraine" (17.07.2014), "The Malaysian Plane Blow: Putin Calls on Ukraine to Stop the Fire" (18.07.2014), "The Fall of Malaysian Aircraft: the world expects Russia to answer" (18.07.2014).
Thus, the analysis of The Guardian materials over May-June 2014, the period on which have fallen such events as the presidential elections and the signing of EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, allows to conclude that the publications began to be irregular and mainly focus on the topics of sanctions against Russia, the conflict in the East and humanitarian issues.
In October 2014, on the eve of the parliamentary elections, Ukrainian news were again gradually appearing on the pages of the media and concern the analysis of the political situation in the country. Article by Balazs Jarabik "Can an election calm the crisis in Ukraine?" (23.10.2014) focuses on the political and social situation before the elections, and in this context the main idea of the material is that the EU needs to take more concrete actions rather than live in dreams to ensure the transparency during these elections for the sake of further democratic development of Ukraine and the earliest resolution of the conflict in the eastern Ukraine" [24].
In the post-election period, the media issues an editorial article "The Guardian view on Ukraine's elections: farewell to the old politics", which was published on October 27, 2014, and confirms the satisfaction and approval of the EU towards the results of the Ukrainian elections: "Ukrainian parliamentary elections confirmed the pro-European orientation of the country and allowed for the government to involve a wide range of representatives of various social circles, who were engaged into the Maidan revolution at the beginning of the year. There are not many representatives of the "old" officials in the government. There are also no pro-Russian parties. The impact of oligarchs who had economic and political power and caused corruption has been reduced" [25].
The amount of information on Ukraine in the British newspaper in 2015-2016 has been significantly reduced and presented only by such topics as the imposition of sanctions against Russia, the conflict in Donbass, and some key political events such as the appointment of a new prime minister ("The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved Volodymyr Groisman as the new prime minister", 14.04.2016).
It is essential to state that the British newspaper The Guardian in 2015 analysed the following Ukrainian eurointegration issues:
- fight against corruption: article «The future of Ukraine in Europe - we have chosen our way» (24.04.2015) is devoted to the Euromaidan results in the framework of the fight against corruption, the Ukraine's rapprochement to the EU membership and the implementation of the rule of law principles;
- reforming («Ukraine rewrites Soviet history on polemical laws on «de-communisation», 20.04.2015);
- Euromaidan events («Overview of the Maidan events - a convergence with the history of decision-making», 22.02.2015; «Ukrainian investigations of the Kyiv clashes», 31.03.2015);
- security issues in the context of the Ukrainian eurointegration processes coverage («Ukraine has ignored ultra-right for too long - it must wake up in the face of danger», March 2015; «NATO enlargement and conflict in Ukraine», 5.04.2015; «NATO, Ukraine and army EU plan», 9.03.2015; «We, Europeans, must be prepared for our own security challenges», 13.02.2015; «How do you tackle such problem as Ukraine?», 27.03.2015);
- EU-Ukraine relations ("Why did Europe turn its back to Ukraine?», «Ukraine points on the beginning of a turbulent new era in world politics», 15.02.2015; «Europe should not treat Ukraine as another Greece», 3.03.2015).
Apart from this, in 2016, the newspaper begins to publish materials such as "New special relations: what does Putin want from Trump?" (20.11.2016), which analyzes the development of relations between the United States and Russia in connection with the election of a new US president. The author admits that Russia, firstly, wants to ease sanctions, secondly, to recognize the Crimea as part of Russia, as well as to meet its own interests in resolving the Syrian issue [26]. The same theme is also covered in the publication "This is a rather alarming time for Ukraine" (6.12.2016), in which the journalist suggests that the change of power in the US could have a negative effect and contribute to a less "warm" attitude and weakening of the support of the United States of America to Ukraine [27].
The monitoring of The Guardian publications over 2018-2019 allows to conclude that Ukrainian news began to correspond to the saturation of the national information space with global-wide events (the conduction of the Champions League in Kyiv, mentioning of Ukraine during the analysis of relations between Russia and the USA, the assassination of O. Zakharchenko, exacerbation of the situation in the
Azov Sea, the military situation in Ukraine etc.) while the information related to the ongoing conflict in the East of Ukraine starts to be covered irregularly. Columnist Simon Jenkins tries to bring the readers' attention to this issue in the article "Forget Brexit, war in Ukraine is the biggest threat to Europe" (26.11.2018), reminding about the situation with Ukrainian sailors, about Donbass, Crimea, Putin's policy and methods, about "10 thousand dead soldiers in this war" [28], but it doesn't receive a great resonance. The topic was somewhat actualized by the texts of Natalia Antonova "Putin benefits from chaos in Ukraine, and the West allows him" (27.11.2018) and Norbert Röttgen: "The EU's response to Russia should be bold and unanimous" (12.12.2018), in which it is stated that there are no quick solutions to the situation regarding Ukraine and Russia, and the EU should maintain a permanent dialogue with Russia, otherwise "there will be no peace in Ukraine" [29]. The articles also reveal that any support for the Putin regime is putting the world at risk, and the current geopolitical situation is not in favor of Ukraine: "traditional Russian enemies are divided and demoralized. Britain was hit by Brexit. In the United States, an authoritarian demagogue at the White House refuses to condemn Russia's actions. It's not a secret that Donald Trump is fond of Putin for his ability to break all rules, to destroy all authoritative institutions, to silence and/or to marginalize all the important critics. According to Trump, "great" America is a place similar to Russia, where a small group of rich people can do everything they like, and everyone else is considered as peasants and they are treated accordingly" [30].
Compared to the American media in which the range of topics changed after the 2016 presidential elections, the analysis of the British press did not show any radical shift, except for the fact that in 2016-2017 Ukrainian topics began to appear less frequently on the pages of the newspaper and were concerned mostly on the general topics, namely on the problems of waste management in Lviv, the conduction of Eurovision in Kyiv, the ban of Russian social networks in Ukraine and other issues that were not related to European integration phenomena.
The analysis of The Guardian publications in 2018 showed that Ukrainian news in the European press began to appear chaotically with relation to the topics' range (the Champions League conduction in Kyiv, mentioning of Ukraine during the analysis of relations between Russia and the US etc.), while in print media information about the ongoing conflict in the East of Ukraine and progress in implementing the European integration reforms were rarely covered. We consider this to be a sign of the lack of an effective and systematic implementation of Ukraine's information policy, aimed at emergence of Ukrainian issues in the international information space.
4. Conclusions.
The specificity of the coverage of the Ukrainian topics by the online resource of the quality British newspaper The Guardian is of sporadic nature due to the existence of certain gaps in the implementation of Ukraine's information policy. At the same time, the coverage of relevant topics reached its peak in 20132014, and this is quite understandable in view of the resonance of the events, taking place in Ukraine, which also shows an extraordinary interest in Ukraine, in provision of assistance in resolving the conflict in the East, progress in the implementation of reforms, and realization of the eurointegration course. Since 2015, the level of interest in Ukrainian topics has been gradually decreasing, and they are mainly focused on the current events of a certain period, the reforming process in accordance with the requirements of the Association Agreement with the EU - the main European integration document, which regulates the relations between Ukraine and the EU in the sphere of implementation of the European integration policy. In addition, the media also covers the following issues: introduction of a visa-free regime with the EU, provision of financial assistance to Ukraine, and alignment of the Ukrainian legislation in accordance with the European law. The last years of the analyzed period (2017-2018) have been marked with a rather negative trend: the British press mentions Ukraine mainly in the context of actualization of Russian issues, which does not contribute to the formation of a positive Ukrainian image among the global community. An efficient systematic information policy, a comprehensive coverage of Ukraine's eurointegration aspects can significantly improve the stuation described above. Given the active phase of European integration processes in Ukraine implementation, namely the introduction of an appropriate action plan and the reforming of the key public spheres in line with the EU requirements, it is extremely important to inform the world community on the progress, being made towards the European future of Ukraine. This can be achieved through the formulation and dissemination of clear "messages" about Ukraine in the international media that will protect the country's interests, improve its image and make it possible for the state to be permanently present in the global information space.
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