The masquerade image in news media texts 2020-2024

The article examines the linguistic peculiarities of the masquerade image in news media texts of 2020-2024. The research is aimed at systematizing scientific research devoted to the theoretical analysis of news texts formation through the use of imaginative means. The main research methods used in this article are descriptive and interpretative, continuous sampling method, component analysis, as well as elements of quantitative analysis and modeling method, which allow to identify the connotative characteristics of the metaphor under study and its syntagmatic potential. The research material (more than 100 contexts) source was the electronic media of a sociopolitical topic published between 2020 and 2024 objectifying the image of the masquerade. As a result of the study, it was found that masquerade is actively implemented at the level of secondary nomination in contexts that destructively evaluate certain sociopolitical realities and form a sharply negative attitude towards them among the mass reader. The results of the analysis allow us to conclude about the fixed connotative potential of the masquerade image, which is relevant for sociopolitical texts..The implementation features of the studied image established in the article allow us to confirm the wide manipulative potential and the fixed negative connotation of the contexts formed in this way, which are not homogeneous in their structure and meaning and are represented by thematic groups: political actions and processes as a masquerade, the activities of political subjects as a masquerade, masquerade attributes as elements of a political structure. It is noted that masquerade as a metaphorical model is a system whose elements are in relation to each other in a position of adjacency or subordination, but may vary depending on the specific content of the context in which it is used. The initial features of the masquerade image – pretense, theatricality, disguise - find metaphorical implementation in news media texts using the examples of the studied contexts.