This thesis aims to explain the role of media reports in the situation of wars and conflicts where the Ukrainian/Russian war will be the focus. Since the Ukrainian war has become the most global political debate worldwide because it has transferred from a national crisis to a geopolitical conflict, it becomes necessary to observe how different media has portrayed this war. It is a comparative desk study based on the discourse analysis method. The methodological framework is qualitative research because it seeks after a specific war by collecting and analysing different sources. The comparative research design gives depth answers to the four research questions identified. The discourse analysis method uses the collected news articles from two online newspapers, Al Jazeera and the Guardian. The first one is written in Arabic and the second one in English, giving a comprehensive view of the Ukrainian/Russian war. The selected news articles are limited to only the first week of the war because of the intensive reports presented by the media to understand the reason behind the war. The thesis uses abductive reasoning, while the securitization theory is used as the theoretical framework to highlight how the Ukrainian/Russian war has been securitized in different contexts. The results show that Al Jazeera and the Guardian have portrayed the war differently; the selected news articles from the Guardian have succeeded in a securitization process where it considered the Ukrainian/Russian war a threat to western security that has pushed the government leaders to security acts. On the other hand, the Arab media portrayed the Russian invasion as a security threat to Ukraine’s presence.

The present study seeks to identify if journalistic objectivity is compromised in the coverage of the Russian-Ukrainian war and how the various media bias practices are incorporated into news reports. It provides a critical analysis of the portrayal of conflicting sides of the conflict in Western mainstream media, examining how the "us" versus "them" narratives were constructed and how the produced discourse aligns with the principles of peace journalism. The study uses a combination of critical discourse analysis, semiotic, and narrative analysis methods as well as quantitative content analysis to achieve its objectives. Analyzing the content of twelve articles sourced from BBC and CNN, published across two distinct time frames, reveals that Western media coverage disproportionately represents the Ukrainian perspective, with the Russian standpoint largely marginalized or stereotypically characterized. The findings indicate that Western media also normalize or trivialize the role of neo-Nazi organizations in the conflict while downplaying potential war crimes committed by the Ukrainian side. Quantitative content analysis of 99 articles according to criteria adapted from Galtung's model finds a discernible dominance of war journalism over peace journalism, thus propagating divisive narratives. Comparative findings for each digital outlet suggest that the BBC adopts a more aggressive war journalism modality than CNN. The research advocates for a critical reflection on media coverage, the challenging of media biases, and a strive for a more balanced, peace-oriented portrayal of conflicts.

The paper examines the reception of Ukrainian refugees in Poland from the organization employee’s point of view. A qualitative method was used by the researcher’s where semi-structured interviews were conducted with four staff members of Polish organizations working with refugees in their profession. The collected data was analyzed with the critical reflective theory. In the findings three major themes could be identified: Reception of Ukrainian refugees, satisfactions and dissatisfactions of the employees, and the difference in attitude towards Ukrainian and Syrian refugees. The empirical findings showed that the displaced Ukrainians were overall welcomed with a very positive attitude by the Polish people, and that there were contrasts to how this attitude has been different from the treatment that Syrian refugees have been met with. Finally, it was concluded that the main challenges that these employees foresaw in the future were the economic and professional lack of resources to in meeting the basic needs of these individuals.

This essay examines how two daily newspapers, the Swedish Dagens Nyheter and the Russian Izvestia retell and report on the Russian-Ukrainian war. The study is based on the theory of propaganda by Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O`Donnell and the media system theory by Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini which is applied to fifty randomly selected articles from a six-week period. The purpose of this study is to see how further reporting differs between the two newspapers that operate in two different media systems and whether propaganda is visible in the newspapers reporting. The survey is carried out by studying how often Dagens Nyheter and Izvestia report on the Russian- Ukrainian war and if propaganda techniques are used in the published articles. Furthermore, the terms used to describe the war in the two newspapers are also examined.  The study is based on a quantitative content analysis where articles were collected over a six-week period as empirical material. The articles were coded in a code-scheme and the results are presented in three diagrams and one chart.The study resulted in marked differences between Dagens Nyheter and Izvestia`s reporting where propaganda is strongly prominent in the Russian newspapers Izvestia and non-existent in the Swedish Dagens Nyheter. Additional results that this study promotes are that the newspapers construct, report and describe the war in two completely different ways. / Denna studie undersöker hur två dagstidningar konstruerar och rapporterar om det Rysk-ukrainska kriget ur ett propagandateoretiskt perspektiv samt ur ett mediesystemteoretiskt perspektiv. Tidningarna som undersöks är den svenska tidningen Dagens Nyheter och den ryska tidningen Izvestia. Syftet med denna undersökning är att se hur vidare rapporteringen skiljer sig åt mellan de två tidningarna som verkar i två olika mediesystem samt om propaganda är synlig i de två tidningarnas rapportering. Undersökningen sker genom att studera hur ofta Dagens Nyheter respektive Izvestia rapporterar om det Rysk-ukrainska kriget samt om propagandatekniker används i de publicerade artiklarna. Vidare undersöks vilka termer som används för att beskriva kriget i de båda tidningarna.  Studien grundar sig i en kvantitativ innehållsanalys där artiklar samlats in under en sexveckorsperiod som empiriskt material. Artiklarna kodas i ett kodschema och resultatet presenteras i tre diagram och en tabell.Studien resulterade i markanta skillnader mellan Dagens Nyheters och Izvestias rapportering, där propaganda är starkt framträdande i den ryska tidningen Izvestia och obefintlig i Dagens Nyheter. Ytterligare resultat som studien visar är att tidningarna konstruerar, rapporterar och beskriver kriget på två skilda sätt.

This diploma thesis will basically work with the concept of security, namely, the European secu- rity in recent years. Although Ukraine is not a NATO member, and Russia is NATO's distant neighbour, in this thesis I will prove that we should connect the events on Ukrainian border with European security. From the very onset of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, NATO was firm in its support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. The Allies immediately condemned the illegal "legitimate annexation" of the Crimea to Russia in March 2014 and they have repeatedly stated that they would never recognize it as well. They also condemned deliberate destabilization in eastern Ukraine which was provoked by Russia with the use of its military intervention and militants' support. The crisis in Ukraine has proved to be a real turning point in Euro-Atlantic security since some senior Western politicians began to speak about changes in the guideline of European defense policy. Ukrainian crisis created new security situation in Europe and still requires attention, in- volvement and response from NATO. This crisis sharpened strategic misunderstanding between Russia and the West. It shows very clearly that Moscow and the West understand European security in...