The research is aimed at studying the pragmatic potential of nominations of the subject-source of fear (a monstrosity, in particular) Introductory remarksFear has always been the object of scientific interest in the humanities: not only philosophers (S. Kuharsky, A. Turenko, W. Wundt, etc.) and psychologists (C. Izard, J. Laplanche, Yu. Scherbatykh, etc.) but also representatives of cultural and social studies (Ch. Baker, A. Brian, J. Kristeva, V. Rudnev, V. Wee), semiotics (N. Bukhs, L. Geller, M. Lotman), pragmatics (P. Cap), conceptology (M. Nikitin, T. Zajtseva) paid their attention to the roots and expression of this phenomenon. These studies contribute to each other and create a multifaceted view on the understanding of fear. Still, there is one topical aspect that needs

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The current state of linguistic pragmatics is at the stage of active development of the terminological basis and theoretical and methodological foundations. One of the notions used in the generally accepted methodology within this area is "axiological distancing". The use of this notion and the corresponding method of analysis allows us to fully disclose the strategies and tactics of constructing texts to influence the reader, analyse the manipulative strategies of the author, assess its objectivity and impact, etc. The results of the analysis of the selected texts allow us to make the conclusion that the ideological opponent in the texts under analysis is the abstract notion of a religious (Muslim) fanatic-terrorist in the eyes of a Christian and a European. It finds a concrete linguistic embodiment described and classified in the article. Having fixed the criteria of axiological classification of the opponent and the main value opposition, we passed to the analysis of the wording of the resistance to the opponent as an aspect of axiological distancing. The analysis of axiological distancing proved that the identification of the opponent's features by studying the semantics of lexical units used in the reference reveals a possible communicative effect and manipulative influence on the reader. According to the identified opposition pattern, the authors form a linguistic expression of the violation of the distance between the opponents, i.e. their physical influence and spatial approximation (we made the classification). The article describes the steps of building the axiological opposition "we" – "they", which is represented by such elements as "West" – "East", "Christianity" – "Islam", "freedom" – "dependence". Special attention is paid to the ways of providing objective reflection of events and keeping to the standards of journalistic ethics.