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(Conspiracy and Renegades frames): the protesters were compared to homeless gypsies
who established their camp in the center of Kyiv. Everything pronounced or done by the
gypsies-like opposition was painted by UT-1 in dirty colors: the protesters “slung mug at
Ukraine,” played “dirty political games,” “poured out their slops abroad,” etc.
Depictions. The content analysis revealed two major methods of depicting the
reality that were employed by media in framing of the crisis – labeling and sarcasm.
UT-1 labeled protesters to be “rescuers” because of the name of the main
oppositional organization, Forum of National Rescue. Taken separately, the “rescuers”
label sounded funny, however: it caused more associations with the favorite Disney’s
cartoons for children shown every weekend at one of Ukrainian channels. Adding to the
label “rescuers” such adjectives as “homespun” or “amateur” made the picture looking
even more eloquent. The “rescues” label applied to the protesters was used by UT-1 to
build the frame of Renegades.
For Pravda, Kuchma’s supporters were “Kuchmanoids” (to stress the comparison
with humanoids), “Kuchma-authors” (those who work at pro-presidential media) or just
“Kuchmists.”
Within
the
Tyrants frame, Pravda sarcastically depicted Kuchma in several ways:
ƒ As a drunkard: “Merry degrees in Kuchma’s eyes,” etc.
ƒ As an ignorant and foul-mouthed person: “Time when it is better to chew” (a
slogan from a chewing gum ad adjusted to the situation), etc.
Convention