International Framing Competition Over the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ): A Comparison Between the American and Russian Media Framings

Abstract

This article analyses the framing approaches of the Voice of America and Sputnik in the context of international framing competition since these are significant public diplomacy channels for the foreign policies of the United States and Russia. The paper questions how VOA and Sputnik frame the YPJ women by considering those countries’ policy objectives in Syria. Thematic content analysis and Robert Entman’s framing approach were applied. The paper indicates that there is a connection between policies of US and Russian governments during the Syrian civil war, particularly towards ISIS and framing tendencies of those government-sponsored media outlets over the YPJ women. While there was a consensus over the responsible agent (ISIS), framing competition has seen through factors affecting problem definition, solutions to this problem and moral justifications for the solution.