The Media and THe Ucranie Crisis

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This paper will discuss the dominant political ideologies presented in news coverage regarding the Ukraine crisis. Tensions within Ukraine started escalating in November of 2013 when Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych rejected a European Union trade deal and accepted a loan offered by Russia to relieve Ukraine’s financial strain (Hepburn, 2014). Many Ukrainian’s want a European trade deal to strengthen European relations and eliminate their ties with the Russian government (Hepburn, 2014). Civilians protested Ukraine’s decision to reject the European trade deal in Kiev’s Maiden Square. February of 2014, protests became violent when Yanukovych permitted the military to shoot protesters (Duncan, 2014). Yanukovych was later deposed and fled to Russia, declaring a coup had taken the Ukraine (MacKinnon, 2014).
The deposal of Yanukovych led to Russian involvement in which pro-Russia gunmen seized government buildings in the Crimean capital. Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed the Russian military to advance, surrounding the autonomous Ukrainian republic of Crimea (MacKinnon, 2014). Mid-March, a referendum will allow Crimea to decide whether Crimea will remain with Ukraine or join Russia. Western countries and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, accuse Russia of declaring war and believe Russia does not have legitimate grounds to take Crimea (CBC, 2014).
The first article, “Putin digs in on Crimea as West moves to isolate Russia,” by Mark MacKinnon is a factual news article from The Globe and Mail that portrays a tory conservatism. The news article has a conservative ideology because the coverage justifies Putin’s military involvement using the concept of noblesse oblige. Putin believes a military mission in Ukraine would be ...

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... hardens tone as Ukraine weakens.” Windsor Star. Retrieved from http://www.windsorstar.com/search/search.html ?q=russia%20harden s%20tone.
Hepburn, Oksana B. (2014, January 27). “Ukraine needs Canada’s help.” National Post. Retrieved from http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/01/27/oksana-bashuk-hepburn- ukraine-needs- canadas-help/.
Johnston, Larry. (2013). Politics: An Introduction to the Modern Democratic State. Toronto: The University of Toronto Press.
MacKinnon, Mark. (2014, March 05). “Putin digs in on Crimea as West moves to isolate Russia.” The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/canadian news/docview/1504112397/9CABDF340C4343DCPQ/1?accountid=11233.
“Ukraine in crisis: Key facts, major developments.” (2014, March 13). The Canadian Broadcast Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/ukraine-dashboard/.

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