Snapshots from an information war: Propaganda, intertextuality, and audience design in the Russia–Ukraine conflict

Abstract

This article argues for a novel conceptualization of propaganda as powerful (multimodal) discourse and forms of sociocultural practice that are both vertical (from elite actors to the populace) and horizontal (originating from and/or circulating among popular actors). Drawing upon the concept of audience design, the article examines the use of intertextuality and affective rhetoric as tactical resources in a set of political performances delivered during the first phase of the Russia–Ukraine war (March 2022) that erupted following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Through critical discourse analysis of political speeches delivered by the war leaders of Ukraine and the US, as well as multimodal analysis of two social media videos, it is shown that discursive aspects of the information war include meticulous audience design through intertextual references that achieve “cultural resonance” with western media, while also leveraging the affective domain, through carefully framed emotional appeals targeted at multiple audiences. The article calls attention to the role of online news for recontextualizing and amplifying key messages from these political performances as a key aspect of propaganda, and offers insights into the rhetorical construction of strategic narratives during information war in the current diverse and hybrid media landscape.