The Threat and Fear of War: The State and Politics in American Mass Media

The Threat and Fear of War: The State and Politics in American Mass Media

Dana O. Baigozhina¹, Marina R. Zheltukhina², Tatiana A. Shiryaeva³,
Elena V. Talybina⁴, Natalia A. Minakova⁵, and Irina A. Zyubina⁶

¹ L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan
² Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University, Russia
³ Pyatigorsk State University, Russia
^4,5 Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Russia
⁶ Southern Federal University, Russia

Abstract

The cultivation of political fears of the state and radical change of attitudes in the minds of people is possible in certain socio-political and economic conditions and massive propaganda in the mass media. The concept of political fear is insufficiently studied in psycholinguistics. This article is dedicated to exploring the political fears of the state in the modern American mass media. This research uses hypothetical-deductive and inductive methods, methods of definitional, interpretative and subjective analysis, and content analysis. It is found that in the modern American mass media, political fear of the state is revealed in fear of war and competition. To verbalize the horror of war and struggle, politicians in power use various tactics of agonal function as the main means of impact on opponents.

Keywords: International politics, media discourse, state tactics, fear, war, American media, psycholinguistics

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Dana O. Baigozhina is a Doctoral Student in the Department of TV, Radio, and Public Relations at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. Her academic directions are social communication, and media studies and society.

Marina R. Zheltukhina (Full Doctor in Philology) is a Professor in the Department of English Philology at Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University. Her area of academic interest includes problems of media linguistics, foreign language lexicology, and innovative processes in education.

Tatiana A. Shiryaeva (Full Doctor in Philology) is Head of the Department of English Language and Professional Communication at Pyatigorsk State University, Russian Federation. Her academic interests concentrate on professional communication research, linguistic, cognitive modeling, and modern methods and innovative technologies of teaching foreign languages.

Elena V. Talybina (Ph.D. in Philology) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Russian Language and Teaching Methods at Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University). Her research interests are nonverbal communication, literary translation, and scientific speech.

Natalia A. Minakova (Ph.D. in Philology) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Russian Language and Teaching Methods at Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University). She studies and publishes on Russian as a foreign language, linguistic and systematic analysis of the vocabulary of newspaper and journalistic discourse.

Irina A. Zyubina (Ph.D. in Philology) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Professional Communication at Southern Federal University. Her research focuses on the English language and literature, in particular, ethnolinguistics, paralinguistics, and intercultural communication.