Fear and loathing in Eastern Europe

The Sputnik News network of websites has been the subject of scholarly attention since its 2014 launch in the context of the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. In January 2022, Sputnik News websites were blocked by EU countries, thus acknowledging the network’s potential influence. Some researchers claim that Sputnik news follows the model of Soviet propaganda, while others claim its discursive patterns point towards new communication strategies. There is scarce literature on Eastern European Sputnik editions and no comparative approaches to date. This research article aims to fill that gap by employing mixed methods to study a large dataset (N=118,198) of Sputnik News headlines from the foreign news sections of three language editions – Czech, Polish, and Romanian, from January 2017 to January 2022. The main findings indicate a conflict-oriented, war journalism approach that mostly focuses on USA-Russia and the individual actors Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Furthermore, the coverage leans towards fear as the dominant affective framing, and the most frequently represented organization, NATO, is framed as a failing alliance, actively pursuing the consolidation of power or even as an aggressor.