Media as a catalyst of Ukrainian national identity

Abstract

The article examines the media aspect of historical and contemporary issues related to the formation, development, and establishment of Ukrainian national identity, as well as its role in Ukraine’s information-psychological security system. It emphasizes that the current 28th genocidal and terrorist war by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, like the previous Russian-Ukrainian wars, is a war of identities and civilizations for Ukrainian national and universal moral-spiritual values. The works of identity researchers S. Vovkanych, O. Hnatiuk, M. Hybernia, S. Yekelchyk, V. Kulik, V. Ferenc, and other authors have been reviewed, emphasizing that national identity has a fluid and dynamic nature. The defining criteria of national identity are continuity over time and differentiation from others. National identity has five dimensions: “psychological, cultural, territorial, historical, and political.” (Montserrat Gibernau).

Based on the analysis of identity research and media materials, it is affirmed that Ukrainian national identity (both individual and collective) is rooted in the shared psychological, cultural, linguistic, historical, geographical, social, political, and customary aspects of life. The nourishing source of Ukrainian identity is the authentic linguistic and historical experience. The manipulative political-ideological propaganda of Russia, claiming that Ukrainians and Russians are one nation with a single language, culture, faith, and history, has been exposed. It is argued that the distant ancestors of present-day Ukrainians and Russians evolved as ethnic communities under completely different geographic and natural conditions, leading to different ways of life. The Ruthenians=Rusyns=Ukrainians and Mokshans=Muscovites=Russians lived in different worlds, characterized by distinct languages, customs, and the formation of diverse identities.
The ideology of the «Russian world», which includes «the promotion of a pan-Russian identity in Ukraine» (M. Zhulynsky), has been debunked. It is emphasized that not only journalists but also politicians, officials, and deputies should have a deep knowledge of the true history, communicate in the Ukrainian language within Ukraine, and spiritually enrich their intellect in order to strengthen their ancestral national identity. In view of the fact that some Ukrainians are under the influence of Russian imperial identity, the need to change the concept of media activity, which should be based on Ukraine-centric principles, is justified. The principle of nation-centricity unifies other principles of media activity and should serve as the foundation for a model of media influence for the further development, deepening, and affirmation of Ukrainian national identity.