Framing of the war in Ukraine: How the international press reacted to the outbreak of the conflict

Abstract This article examines how the fights in Ukraine were framed in U. S., French, Polish, and Russian media in the first month of the conflict. Using a modified version of Semetko and Valkenburg’s (2000) method, we found patterns in media portrayals of the events. An analysis of 400 articles showed that media in these countries used roughly the same frames. The most important differences concerned the war and human interest frames, clearly avoided by Russian media. The most profound differences stemmed from how the frames were utilized. Despite using the same frames, media in different countries were able to produce different images of events.