1. Different Mediums, Same Messages: Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Sergei Samoilenko, Elina Erzikova, Alexander Laskin, & Sergey Davydov

2. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis

3. Character assassination (CA) is a deliberate and sustained effort to damage the reputation or credibility of an individual or organization.

4. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Method: Content analysis of broadcast transcripts Broadcasting networks included in the study: Three Russian (Pervyi Kanal, Rossiya-1, NTV) & three US (ABC News, CBS News, NBC News).

5. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Russia: Pervyi Kanal, Rossiya-1, NTV The US: ABC News, CBS News, NBC News Russia The US The length of transcripts (words) ranged from 59-3,555 333-11,340 The mean7171,355

6. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Table 1. Number of news stories broadcasted from July 17-August 16, 2014 by three Russian TV channels. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Channel# of stories %Plane crash as main topic (#) % _______________________________________________________________________________________ Pervyi Kanal4126.82824.3 Rossiya-16743.85447.0 NTV4529.43328.7 Total15310011575.2 ___________________________________________________________________

7. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Table 2. Focus of news stories broadcasted from July 17-August 16, 2014 by three Russian TV channels. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Focus Television Channels Pervyi KanalRossiya-1NTVTotal ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Political3026.55246.03111.511342.2 Military2125.04047.62327.48431.2 Social2136.82035.11628.15721.2 Economic24062.2 Historic03141.5 Cultural11131.1 Other 01120.7 Total7527.912145.07327.1269 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Table 3. Types of attack detected in news stories broadcasted from July 17-August 16, 2014 by three Russian TV channels. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Type Television Channels Pervyi KanalRossiya-1NTVTotal ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Silencing3235.23740.72224.29136.1 Anonymous lies1630.22343.41426.45321.0 Misquoting1020.02754.01326.05019.8 Demonization 1024.42356.1819.54116.3 Name-calling362114.4 Acts of vandalism11020.8 Mental illness01010.4 Total7228.612148.05923.4252 ____________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Table 4. Subjects of attack in news stories broadcasted from July 17-August 16, 2014 by three Russian TV channels. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Subject Television Channels Pervyi KanalRossiya-1NTVTotal _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Ukrainian Government2528.74147.12124.18733.3 Ukraine as Country1326.52959.2714.34918.8 US government91162610.0 Ukrainian President 712423 Ukrainian official 5114207.7 US president2132176.5 Protesters22151.9 Ukrainians as Nation2002 0.8 Other911123212.3 Total 7428.413049.85721.8261 ______________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Table 5. Focus of news stories broadcasted from July 17-August 16, 2014 by three US TV networks. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Focus Television Channels ABC News (n=11)CBS News (n=18)NBC News (n=5)Total _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Military97319 Political54211 Social1001 Economic0101 Other 84113 Total2316645 ____________________________________________________________________________________

11. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Table 6. Types of attack detected in news stories broadcasted from July 17-August 16, 2014 by three US TV networks. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Type Television Channels ABC NewsCBS NewsNBC NewsTotal ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Demonization 106218 Name-calling3407 Silencing0101 Total1311226 ______________________________________________________________________________________

12. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Table 7. Subjects of attack(s) in news stories broadcasted from July 17-August 16, 2014 by three US TV networks. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Subject Television Channels ABC NewsCBS NewsNBC NewsTotal __________________________________________________________________________________________ Protesters98219 Russia as Country44210 Russian President 2013 Russian Government0303 Russians as Nation0101 Total 1516536 __________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Highlights o The Russian channels produced more news stories than US networks (153 vs. 35). o The opposing sides used various types of character assassination. o A greater degree of diversification for subject and type of attack in news by three Russian TV channels.

14. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Highlights Russia o Main types of attack: silencing o Main focus: political o Main subject of attack: Ukrainian government

15. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Highlights Russiathe US o Main types of attack: silencing demonization o Main focus: politicalmilitary o Main subject of attack: Ukrainian governmentprotesters

16. Character Assassination Practices during the Ukrainian Crisis Highlights Russiathe US o Main types of attack: silencing demonization o Main focus: politicalmilitary o Main subject of attack: Ukrainian governmentprotesters None of the sides attacked its own government