Sumienie małego narodu Kryzys związany z polityką Federacji Rosyjskiej po 2022 r. w dyskursie austriackiej prasy opiniotwórczej w latach 2022-2023
Conscience of a Small Nation The Crisis Related to the Policy of the Russian Federation After 2022 in the Discourse of the Austrian Opinion-Making Press in 2022-2023

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to examine the media discourse in Austria, mainly focusing on the opin-ion-shaping press, concerning the post-2022 crisis in relations with the Russian Federation and its po-litical and economic ramifications. The author formulated two research hypotheses: 1) The above-men-tioned discourse pertains to Austria’s ingrained perception of itself as a small, neutral nation and amember of the EU. 2) Depending on which of the three referenced images prevails in particular narra-tives, issues related to Russia, including the Russian threat, are framed in varying contexts.The article relies on two main research methods: content analysis of mass media, which includesthe search function and extracting keywords, alongside a critical analysis of the discussed discourse (re-search period: February 2022-December 2023; selected titles representative of the opinion-shaping press:Der Standard, Kurier, Die Presse).The author reaches the following conclusions: 1) There is a correlation between references to theSecond Republic as a small state and the tendency to thematize the crisis associated with Russia in termsof economic survival, and especially – to portray Austria’s economic situation more pessimistically thanwould be warranted by objective factors. 2) There is a consensus in the opinion-shaping press regardingthe negative assessment of the Kremlin’s actions related to violations of international law. 3) The Austri-an media discourse is confronting inquiries about the outcomes of the country’s long-standing close tieswith Russia. It fluctuates along the narrative spectrum of explanatory vs. error-identifying orientation.The first perspective is common in narratives addressing Austria’s unique international status (perpetualneutrality, role as a mediator), while the second is found in those referring to the country on the Danubeas part of the EU.

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