Some Characteristics of Coverage of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 in the British Press

Section: History of Journalism

The Russo-Turkish War of 1877—78 was the first campaign officially covered by members of the foreign press. The Russian command developed the conditions for admission realizing that the publication of correspondents’ articles could have a positive impact on the image of the Russian Empire. Finding out whether such experience was necessary and effective, the author of the article used a quantitative method to study the materials of five metropolitan and regional newspapers of Great Britain (The Times, The Daily News, The Standard, The Scotsman and The Manchester Guardian). The study revealed some features of the campaign coverage: for example, the most common genre was news, which was particularly relevant on the days of crossing the Danube and taking Pleven; journalists wrote reports from Romanian and Bulgarian fortresses situated along the river, refraining from doing analytics. Each newspaper had its own style of coverage of events with regard to Russia, which was connected with both the newspaper’s policy and the personal views of the correspondent. The information obtained allows to expand knowledge of the Russo-Turkish campaign.

DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.3.2019.163180

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