Formation of Media Discourse as a Mechanism for Politicization of Sports
Research Article
How to Cite
Gandilyan M.M. Formation of Media Discourse as a Mechanism for Politicization of Sports. Vlast’ (The Authority). 2025. Vol. 33. No. 4. P. 96-104. (in Russ.).
Abstract
One of the least popular topics among Russian researchers to this day is the issue of specific mechanisms used to move initially non-political relations into the political sphere artificially. The article presents the results of the analysis of communication techniques, tactics and strategies aimed at the formation of media discourse as a means of politicization of sports (exemplified by sanctions against Russian sports). The empirical base of the study are 545 media messages published between January 1, 2014 and March 31, 2025 in six quality newspapers, i.e. Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Izvestia, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian and The Independent. The paper concluds that strategies of self-presentation (in a favorable light) and discrediting Western opponents dominate in Russian editions, while strategies of discrediting Russia and manipulation dominate in the foreign newspapers. Media discourse formed in this way often becomes a basis for making biased political and managerial decisions in the sports sphere. Once specific narratives have been introduced into the mass consciousness, the images needed by the subjects of politicization have been created, and the cause-and-effect relationships that are beneficial to them have been imposed, it becomes much easier to ensure that an initially illogical, unnatural, and in some cases not entirely legal idea is perceived by the public as completely normal, absolutely adequate to reality, or even a long-overdue initiative.
Keywords:
politicization, sports, communication strategy, media discourse, Russia
References
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Debelova L.I., Farteev E.K. 2020. Istoriya politizatsii sporta. – Nauka i obrazovanie segodnya. № 6-1(53). S. 24-27. (RUS.)
Denisyuk E.V. 2004. Manipulyativnoe rechevoe vozdeistvie: kommunikativno-pragmaticheskii aspekt: avtoref. dis. … k.filol.n. Ekaterinburg. 22 s. (RUS.)
Issers O.S. 2003. Kommunikativnye strategii i taktiki russkoi rechi. M.: Editorial URSS. 284 s. (RUS.)
Kazantseva N.V., Amosova T.V. 2022. Doping v rossiiskom sporte: tekhnologii formirovaniya negativno-otsenochnoi mediapovestki. – Uchenye zapiski Novgorodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. № 4(43). S. 375-379. (RUS.)
Kuzina S.I., Rudenko O.S. 2023. Politizatsiya natsional'no-gosudarstvennoi identichnosti v sporte kak faktor destruktsii sportivnykh traditsii i printsipov. – Gosudarstvennoe i munitsipal'noe upravlenie. Uchenye zapiski. № 3. S. 183-190. (RUS.)
Mikhaleva O.L. 2002. Politicheskii diskurs: sposoby realizatsii agonal'nosti. – Postroenie grazhdanskogo obshchestva: materialy mezhdunarodnogo gumanitarnogo kongressa. Ch. 3. Russkii yazyk: ego sovremennoe sostoyanie i problemy prepodavaniya. Irkutsk: Izd-vo IGPU. S. 96-105. (RUS.)
Mishlanov V.A., Netsvetaeva N.S. 2009. Kommunikativnye strategii i taktiki v sovremennom politicheskom diskurse (na materiale politicheskoi reklamy predvybornykh kampanii 2003, 2007, 2008 gg.). – Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Rossiiskaya i zarubezhnaya filologiya. Vyp. 6. S. 5-13. (RUS.)
Parshina O.N. 2007. Rossiiskaya politicheskaya rech': Teoriya i praktika. M.: Izd-vo LKI. 227 s. (RUS.)
Romanov V.V. 2025. Sportivnaya diplomatiya pered vyzovami novogo mirovogo poryadka. – Vlast'. T. 33. № 1. S. 104-111. (RUS.)
Savinov L.V., Aloyan M.S., Shumasov M.A. 2021. Politizatsiya sporta kak yavlenie i problema. – Zhurnal politicheskikh issledovanii. T. 5. № 3. S. 107-118. (RUS.)
Article
Received: 29.09.2025
Citation Formats
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APA
Gandilyan, M. M. (2025). Formation of Media Discourse as a Mechanism for Politicization of Sports. Vlast’ (The Authority), 33(4), 96-104. Retrieved from https://jour.fnisc.ru/index.php/vlast/article/view/10834
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POLITICAL PROCESSES AND PRACTICES
Following the submission of the manuscript to the Publisher, the author binds oneself not to publish it somewhere else without permission of the Publisher.
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