Frames of Religious Extremism in Russian Media

The master's thesis is aimed at studying the frames of religious extremism in Russian online media. In the empirical part of the work, we’ve used a combination of the quantitative content analysis and the qualitative frame analysis as a research technique whereby the features of the frames of the terrorist attack in the metro in St. Petersburg (April 2017) were determined, and we’ve interpreted the elements of media narratives. The main conclusions of the study relate to the results of hypothesis testing, on the basis of which the integrated interpretation of frames was presented: the factors that determine the use of episodic and thematic frames by Russian media in covering religious extremism are described; the contents of the frame "war on terror" are disclosed; the conditions for stigmatization of the Other by religious and ethnic features are described. The results of the research contribute to the scientific discussion on the coverage of religious extremism by modern media.