Černobyľská havária: environmentálna komunikácia v socialistickej tlači

PATRÍCIA MOLNÁROVÁ
Katedra slovenského jazyka a komunikácie, Filozofická fakulta, Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici

The Chernobyl accident: environmental communication in the socialist press

Abstract: The study deals with the reflection of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion (1986) in the ideologically determined environment of the socialist daily press. The issue is interpreted in relation to environmental communication about a historical event with a direct impact on the environment. The interdisciplinary theoretical background links environmental communication, environmental history, political-ideological and media discourse of the socialist era in the time of emerging glasnost and perestroika. The aim of the research is to present the media portrayal of an environmental event in its historical, political, and ideological context and to outline the primary communication techniques used to convey it. The research interpretations are based on a content and critical analysis of 35 texts published in the Slovak national (Pravda) and regional periodicals (Smer) within one month after the Chernobyl accident. The research sample includes reports, interviews, articles, commentaries, and statements by the highest officials of the Soviet Union. In the contemporary context, environmental issues are subordinated to the political-ideological media discourse in terms of both the formal positioning in the analysed medium and the content focus of the text. The research results reflect the characteristic manifestations of the language of the socialist period (manipulative communicative techniques, emotionally determined argumentation, information selection, schematization, stereotyping, argument from authority, etc.) applied to the conditions of environmental communication.

Keywords: environmental communication, Chernobyl, language of socialism, party press, propaganda, socialist ideology.