State sponsored and privately owned Russian newspapers write very differently of the country’s judicial system, write Tatiana Dubrovskaya, Natalia Dankova and Svetlana Gulyaykina, all of Penza State University. They conducted a critical discourse analysis on two Russian newspapers, the government-run Rossiskaja Gazeta and the oppositional Novaja Gazeta.

Both papers publish roughly as much stories related to the judicial system, and both employ the same six strategies of representation. The papers’ tones, however, were polar. While RG was found to be overly supportive of the system, NG attacked it relentlessly. This presents the judicial system, supposedly neutral, in a very politicized light, the authors conclude.

The analysis was published as an online-first article of the journal Discourse & Communication. It can be accessed here (abstract public).