Legitimizing Germany’s intervention policy: A discourse analysis of German media’s coverage on supplying weapons to Ukraine

Abstract

Following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Germany made a pivotal decision to supply heavy weaponry to Ukraine, marking a dramatic shift in its diplomatic stance toward Russia and breaking from its longstanding policy of abstaining from arming conflict zones. Rooted in proximization theory, this study delved into the coverage of the weapon provisions to Ukraine by leading German media outlets, specifically ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’ and ‘Die Welt’, to investigate how they legitimized Germany’s intervention policy. The study revealed the following findings: (a) in terms of spatial proximization dimension, these two newspapers aligned Ukraine with its own camp, creating a tense atmosphere of Russia’s encroachment on the West; (b) in terms of temporal proximization, the newspapers constructed an image of Russia’s ongoing aggression against the West and suggests its future escalation, thereby enhancing the fear among Western democratic countries; (c) in terms of axiological priximization, the newspapers elevated the Russia-Ukraine conflict to a contest between democratic and totalitarian ideologies, portraying the threat of intrusion from other value systems. Through this proximization discourse, the significant policy shift in Germany toward an intervention approach was legitimized in the media coverage.