Media elite attitudes towards how news websites tackle the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict

 
The current study seeks to reveal the effective role of means of communication in tackling international conflicts. Political regimes have realized that controlling communication technologies is in their interest, especially after acknowledging their pivotal role in providing information and knowledge along with the ability to mobilize masses and connecting them with the latest developments in the arena. That said, the study at hand attempts to lay bare media elites’ attitudes towards the role played by news websites in dealing with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, assessing how far these websites are committed to the code of ethics when covering the latest developments of the conflict. The study deploys an analytically descriptive approach that relied on social survey sampling method along with conducting online questionnaire as a data collection tool. The study conducted on media elites sample consists of 150 respondents varied between (professional academics and specialized experts in the field of electronic journalism) who come from different universities and various media institutions. Furthermore, the study adopts the notion of ‘conflict tackling’ as a theoretical entry point for the analysis. The study concludes that the professional performance of news websites was declining due to the political orientations of each website. In spite of the vital role assigned to mass media, which dictates communicating events objectively in such a way that does not prioritize personal views over facts, what happens in practice highlights considerable bias in the performance of mass media in general and electronic versions in particular. This is specifically true for the media personnel as well as the manner through which the coverage present different issues and conflicts.