MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE ADDRESS OF VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY TO AMERICAN CONGRESS: DISPOSITIONAL VARIATION

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to identify the transformations of the address of the President of Ukraine to the US Congress on March 16, 2022 in the news texts of American and British websites. The novelty of the work consists in the use of rhetorical canons to establish dispositional changes during recontextualization of the speech content. Depending on the importance of ideas and arguments of the address for the target audience, four levels of topic relevance are singled out: high, if the topic is presented in the headline and the lead; medium, when the ideas from the address are mentioned in the paragraphs that follow the lead; low, provided the arguments from the speech are highlighted at the end of the text; zero, if the topic from the speech is omitted in the news text. The news coverage on www.washingtonpost.com gives a high level of relevance to the topics of support for Ukraine and the call for Biden to become a leader of the world; middle level is attached to the description of the misfortunes of ordinary Ukrainians, threats to their country as a state, events from the US history and a repeated request for help; zero level of relevance is given to gratitude to the USA for the previously provided help. The topic disposition on the edition.cnn.com gives a high level of relevance to the help for Ukraine from both ordinary and famous Americans and to historical events in the USA; medium – a call for American leadership, a repeated request for help to Ukraine and cases from American history similar to the situation in Ukraine; low level is attached to the horror of ordinary Ukrainians; zero – to the fate of their country. Only three topics from the original speech are represented on the British website www.bbc.com. High and medium levels of relevance are attached to past threatening events in the USA and calls for help to Ukraine; a low level – to proposals for Biden to become a world leader, and a zero level – manifestations of the plight of ordinary Ukrainians and the future of Ukraine as a state.