Strategic Communication, Framing, and National Image: An Analytical Framework for International Broadcasting Studies

The subject of the research is the mechanisms through which strategic goals, framing practices, and image representations are interconnected in the media texts of international broadcasters. In a competitive interpretation environment, where foreign audiences receive multiple, often contradictory explanations of the same events, it is not enough for the state to simply inform international audiences. It needs to offer convincing interpretative frameworks, capture attention, and at the same time avoid damaging its reputation through overly straightforward impacts. The article analyzes how international broadcasters structure event information for foreign audiences, what images of their own country, other states, and the international order are formed through a set of media materials, and how these processes relate to the foreign policy interests of the initiating state. Special attention is paid to the differences between domestic and foreign journalism, as well as the factors determining the effectiveness or limitations of communicative impact on the foreign audience. The article employs conceptual analysis, qualitative content analysis, discourse analysis, frame analysis, comparative analysis, and media representation analysis; as additional procedures, elements of critical discourse analysis and audience-receptive analysis are considered. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the development of an integrative analytical model for the study of international broadcasting, which brings together three research traditions that have previously developed predominantly in isolation: strategic communication, framing theory, and the concept of national image. Unlike existing approaches that focus either on institutional aspects of public diplomacy, textual characteristics of media discourse, or reputational effects, the proposed model allows tracing the entire communication path – from the institutional mission of the broadcaster and the foreign policy goals of the state to the specific meaningful frames of media texts and the possible reactions of foreign audiences. The work demonstrates that international broadcasting differs from domestic journalism in its foreign policy focus, institutional connection to the state, and the necessity to adapt messages to the cultural and platform conditions of the receiving audience. The proposed six-level model includes institutional, strategic, discursive-framing, image-representational, audience-receptive, and technological-platform levels. For each of them, research questions, possible data sources, and relevant analysis methods are formulated.