Abstract
Abstract
This chapter examines the blame-attribution mechanisms and themes in Russian public diplomacy through media by looking at the coverage by the Russian state-funded international broadcaster RT (formerly Russia Today) of the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and the chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma in 2018. By focusing on these events, this chapter takes a new look at the role of crises in blame attribution and avoidance, looking at the international rather than the domestic level. Finally, the chapter also looks at how RT’s status as a media outlet and a public diplomacy actor can be understood within the context of its blame-avoidance and -attribution narratives, and at how the channel uses media and journalistic tools to assign and avoid blame.
Publisher
Oxford University PressOxford
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