Factors Influencing the Formation of a Mental Image in the Russian Media

The research identifies a three-tier structure of influence in the formation of mental images: macro-level ideological factors, meso-level institutional mechanisms, and micro-level cognitive framing techniques. The analysis of Russian media narratives, particularly from RT and other state-controlled platforms, revealed a consistent deployment of themes such as national sovereignty, civilizational identity, and external threat. These messages are strategically framed to evoke emotional responses, most notably fear, pride, and moral dualism, thereby reinforcing a cohesive and state-aligned perception of reality. Qualitative content analysis of 30 editorials between 2022 and 2024 demonstrated that national sovereignty (28%), historical continuity (22%), and threat/fear frames (20%) dominate media discourse. Furthermore, semantic network mapping illustrated the repeated co-occurrence of terms such as “Russia”, “values”, “enemies”, and “tradition”, which collectively shape a moral narrative architecture. The findings support the hypothesis that Russian media constructs mental imagery through a coordinated, top-down model of ideological dissemination, institutional control, and cognitive framing. This study offers a multidimensional analytical model that can be applied to other geopolitical media environments with centralized communication systems. Its implications are relevant for media literacy, strategic communication analysis, and international image management studies.