State and Regions. Series: Social Communications

The purpose of the article is to substantiate the transformation of journalistic standards under conditions of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, specifically the shift from the libertarian press model to the theory of social responsibility, as well as to investigate the impact of these processes on the editorial policies of Ukrainian media, professional norms, and linguistic practices emerging in response to existential threats.

Research methodology. To achieve the main objective of the study – justifying the transformation of journalistic standards during wartime within the conceptual shift from the libertarian press model to the theory of social responsibility – the following methods were employed: analysis and synthesis for processing theoretical press models; comparative analysis for juxtaposing professional norms in peacetime and wartime; discourse analysis for studying linguistic phenomena in media texts; and a survey method among representatives of regional media for empirical confirmation of changes in contemporary editorial policies.

Results. The article provides theoretical and empirical justification for the transformation of journalistic standards amid the Russian-Ukrainian war as a process of conceptual transition from the libertarian press model to the theory of social responsibility. Empirical research confirmed significant changes in editorial practices: 82.4% of respondents (45.1% partially + 37.3% fundamentally) altered the stylistics and tone of materials after February 24, 2022. Respondents identified the need to support national unity and morale (39%) and the enhancement of the emotional-empathetic component (24.4%) as key factors. The transformation of standards is most evident in the deliberate departure from the principle of «mirror» representation of conflict sides, as granting equal media space to the aggressor and victim creates a «false equivalence» effect. Additionally, recorded lexical shifts in wartime media discourse are proposed to be interpreted as «language of resistance» – an adaptive response by the journalistic community to extreme conditions, grounded in Viktor Frankl’s existential principle of the normality of anomalous reactions in inhuman circumstances. It is substantiated that such transformation is not a degradation of standards but serves as a tool for protecting subjectivity and countering dehumanization, distinctly opposed to the concept of «hate speech». The obtained data indicate that Ukrainian journalism is forming its own adaptive model, aligned with Mattias Dörr’s concept of «liquid journalism», where informational resilience and protection of national subjectivity are priority values.

The novelty of the study lies in the theoretical and empirical justification of the transformation of journalistic standards under conditions of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. The work demonstrates that the war prompted Ukrainian media to shift from the libertarian press model to the social responsibility model amid an existential crisis. Based on survey results from regional media representatives, it empirically confirms for the first time the trend toward abandoning mechanical balance of opinions in favor of value-oriented journalism. Additionally, the study proposes interpreting lexical changes in media discourse not as «hate speech» but as «language of resistance», representing an adaptive reaction of the journalistic environment to wartime conditions.

The practical significance of the research results lies in their applicability in academic and educational activities, particularly in developing journalism and media ethics courses. The findings can also inform the creation of professional standards for media operations during armed conflicts. Furthermore, this study may serve as an analytical foundation for future Ukrainian and international research on the transformation of journalistic practices and media discourse during war.

Key words: journalistic standards, value-oriented journalism, libertarian press model, social responsibility theory of media, liquid journalism, false equivalence, Russian-Ukrainian war.

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