Chernobyl, Responsibility and National Identity: Positioning Europe and Russia in the Media of Belarus and Ukraine (1992–2014)

This article compares media representations of how Europe and Russia handled the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Belarus and Ukraine in the period 1992–2014. It shows that the official and alternative media in Belarus featured competing representations of Europe and Russia that were linked to the national narratives of the Belarusian authorities and opposition, while the official and alternative media in Ukraine carried congruent representations of Europe and Russia that were not linked to the competing national narratives of the political actors. It is further argued that while the media in Belarus constructed its national identity as present-oriented, the media of Ukraine presented its national identity as past-centred.