OBITUARIES OF UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS IN REGIONAL AND NATIONAL ONLINE MEDIA
Abstract
The Russian-Ukrainian war has actualized the genre of the obituary. Reports of military deaths began to be regularly published in periodicals, which makes it important to scientifically comprehend the genre modifications of the modern obituary, in particular, its structure, style, specifics depending on the type of media, etc. Unfortunately, the modern obituary has so far been neglected by Ukrainian journalistic genre studies. Instead, in Western media studies, this genre is the subject of numerous studies. The purpose of the article is to clarify the specifics of the obituary of a fallen soldier in Ukrainian online media of various types and is realized in the following tasks: to compare the use of the obituary genre in all-Ukrainian (quality press and tabloids) and regional newspaper publications; to study the structural and stylistic features of obituaries; to draw attention to violations of journalistic ethics in the publication of obituaries. The study of modern modifications of the obituary necessitated a systematic approach for a comprehensive analysis of the genre, a comparative method and content analysis. The analysis showed that obituaries in the press have a clear template structure. The obituary has two basic modifications: a brief official and an expressive message, which differ in length and style. In the second modification, information about the personal qualities of the deceased and his or her family is added to the abovementioned template. The style of an expressively coloured obituary is characterized by artistic expression and stylistic figures. The first modification is presented mainly in the quality press, and the second is in tabloid newspapers. Regional newspapers represent both modifications. Regional newspapers must emphasize the patriotism of their deceased countrymen. Writing obituaries is a responsible journalistic task because mistakes in this process not only negatively affect the mental state of the deceased's relatives and friends but also form negative values in Ukrainian society.
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