Abstract
The article attempts to analyze the general trajectory of Western media coverage of the religious environment in Ukraine. Recently, the religious situation in Ukraine has become one of the strategic issues of national security, since it is relevant and important in the light of not only the religious, but also the political context of Ukraine. The study examines the journalistic activity of Western publications about the religious transformations of Ukraine from 2019 to 2023. This encompasses the intensity of the rapid confessional changes in Ukraine, the style of the journalistic text under study, the intensity of their media representation, and the peculiarities of Western publishing. As sources of information, data on open Internet resources, as well as publications in the Western press and blogs are used. The key representations of the Ukrainian religious situation in the American and European mass media are analyzed, and a media context is found in which a specific interpretation of religious issues is proposed, taking into account intense transformational components. The influence of the work of several popular Western media, in particular, the Pulitzer Center, ContactUkraine, ukrainetrek.com, U.S. Department of State, United States Institute of Peace, and others, regarding the Ukrainian religious and political environment is considered. Special attention is drawn to the state reaction to the aggressive influences of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), in particular, and is referred to by the modern press under the stamp "Moscow Patriarchate" (MP) and is recognized as the pro-Russian and at the same time the largest religious community represented on Ukrainian lands. A political and socio-religious analysis of the processes that took place in Ukraine during the specified period is compiled. The relevance of the research topic is due not only to the widespread public interest and involvement in the waves of confessional shifts, but also to the revealed political instability of church life. This was presented by Western media for the European and American target audiences and was not associated with the UOC-MP and today's religious trends. Therefore, we consider it peculiar that the reflection by journalists of Western publications forced the Ukrainian state apparatus to have influences on a hostile religious institution. Accordingly, consideration of the content of foreign publications is important for the further development of the image of the modern world religious discourse.
Recommended Citation
Livak, Petro and Palij, Daniil
(2023)
"Brief Observation of the General Trajectory of Western Media Coverage of the Religious Situation in Ukraine,"
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 43
:
Iss.
7
, Article 13.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55221/2693-2148.2461
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol43/iss7/13
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