Media Framing by The Washington Post on TikTok : Shaping Public Perception of the Ukraine Conflict

Sammanfattning: The Ukraine-Russia conflict in 2022 is rooted in historical, geographical and identity reasons. The world media has paid attention to this issue emphasizing its importance from the first moment. TikTok is a new medium that over the years transformed as a major source for spreading information to a large sum of people. Legacy media has utilised this transformation in order to connect with their viewers, changing the nature of the synergies between consumers and media while the conflict is ongoing. This project examines the importance of how legacy media, like the Washington Post, portrayed the war in Ukraine while providing insight into media dynamics during this crisis. It focuses on analyzing the content of videos and emphasises the utilisation of a framework to harmonize data from different cases. Of course, there are limitations to this project, including linguistic bias and reliance on content posted on a specific platform. The structure of this thesis highlights the importance of platforms like TikTokin journalism and provides a theoretical overview of framing theory. Social media has had a great role in many conflicts over the past few years and has had a great impact on the situation regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The project tries to shed light on how the invasion underlined how modern combat is being altered by digital media technology, especially disinformation spread. Such engagement on TikTok and other platforms helps shape historical narratives. The historical background of this and the media interest it aroused are presented in the literature review section. To showcase how frameworks can be related, this study uses content analysis in the context of framework theory as a methodological tool. In media research, content analysis is an important technique, especially in war zones like Ukraine. With this approach, media content is carefully examined to uncover patterns and meanings. Altogether, this study adds to the understanding of how legacy media institutions negotiate the hurdles of sharing news on social media platforms during times of crisis. It highlights the significance of adopting multidimensional framing tactics to deliver a thorough and precise picture of complex global concerns, hence cultivating an informed discriminating readership.