Through American Eyes:  The New York Times and CBS News’s Depictions of the Orange Revolution

This thesis explores how the American media outlets, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) News and The New York Times, have reported on Ukraine’s Orange Revolution. It specifically seeks to answer the research question: How have the CBS News and the New York Times media outlets represented the Orange Revolution to American readers between 2004 and 2006? The thesis argues that while these two American news outlets have introduced issues within Ukraine’s political system to their audience, both have mainly emphasized the Western position and perspective on the Orange Revolution. The US’ media perspectives of the Orange Revolution have been under-researched, which has decreased scholars’ understanding of Colour Revolutions as a whole. This is important to take into account because such post-Soviet demonstrations continue to take place, such as Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution. Hence, analysing and understanding the previous ones can help better predict when and where they can occur again in...Show moreThis thesis explores how the American media outlets, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) News and The New York Times, have reported on Ukraine’s Orange Revolution. It specifically seeks to answer the research question: How have the CBS News and the New York Times media outlets represented the Orange Revolution to American readers between 2004 and 2006? The thesis argues that while these two American news outlets have introduced issues within Ukraine’s political system to their audience, both have mainly emphasized the Western position and perspective on the Orange Revolution. The US’ media perspectives of the Orange Revolution have been under-researched, which has decreased scholars’ understanding of Colour Revolutions as a whole. This is important to take into account because such post-Soviet demonstrations continue to take place, such as Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution. Hence, analysing and understanding the previous ones can help better predict when and where they can occur again in the future. Moreover, the US has attempted to represent itself as a peaceful, democratic country, which implies that countries which have Colour Revolutions would likely receive financial or political assistance from the former. The media can also construct narratives which could prompt other Western nations to assist in situations of political upheaval.Show less

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Through American Eyes: The New York Times and CBS News’s Depictions of the Orange Revolution