Maidan, Krim und Russland

In 2014, Maidan, Crimea and Russia became the focus of media coverage: The Maidan protests led to a state crisis, and the Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia. These decisive events had to be classified and contextualised. This media frame analysis highlights the nature of the image of these events depicted in opinion pieces published in the most widely read German print media. It understands opinion via the concept of frame, which is developed here based on a theoretical reflection about how people understand and classify the world using (our own) categories. By deploying an operationalisable definition of the term frame and by applying it to the aforementioned texts, opinion spectra in reporting can be visualised on an empirical level. In light of the current situation, this is a highly topical subject.