How Does It Look from Where You Are? A Visual Media Framing Analysis of the 2022 War in Ukraine

In this study, the authors analyzed how U.S., UK, Russian, and Ukrainian media visually framed the 2022 Russian war in Ukraine. Prior research emphasized the importance of studying media framing of conflict issues due to the potential impact on public perception and apportioning of responsibility of the parties involved. In particular, media images have been shown to be critical elements in the media framing process, but have been studied less often than textual content. A content analysis was conducted on a sample of news articles published during the first year of the war from The Guardian, The New York Times, Lenta.ru, and Ukrainska Pravda focused on denotative and connotative visual framing frameworks. Four major frames were identified: geographic location, dominant subjects/objects, patriotism, and human suffering. Quantitative analysis suggests significant differences in the visual frames adopted by Western media, Russian, and Ukrainian media. The implications of these findings are discussed.