The Conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic in the Coverage of RT (2011–2017)

The mass media have long gone beyond local and national spaces, becoming independent actors in world politics. One of them is the Russian global RT TV channel, which actively participates in shaping international public opinion and successfully applies various media strategies and being one of the key tools of soft power and public diplomacy of the Russian Federation. The aim of the article is to identify the position of the RT TV channel regarding the events that took place during the civil war in the Syrian Arab Republic that were most relevant to official Moscow. Studying RT’s actions during this crisis allows us to understand how information about a major regional conflict is disseminated at the global level. The relevance of the research is underscored by the increasing role of information in the global space in the context of the formation of a multipolar world order. This research focuses on the analysis of how RT applied various strategies to shape international public opinion regarding the events during the acute crisis in Syria in 2011–2017. The research methodology includes content analysis of RT’s high-reach publications dedicated to key events of the Syrian conflict. The authors focused on such topics as the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the armed intervention of Western countries in the conflict, the discussion of the crisis within the walls of the United Nations, Russia’s participation in the fight against terrorist groups, the battle for Aleppo, and attempts at a peaceful settlement. Based on the conducted analysis, it is concluded that this global media outlet broadcast the situation in Syria by consistently selecting topics and shaping the agenda based on the goals of the Russian Federation’s foreign policy, thereby coverage of the conflict into the state information strategy.

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