PROSPECTS FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF BILATERAL RELATIONS: THE MEDIA-CENTRIC ASPECT

Abstract

Bilateral interstate relations increasingly take shape not only within the diplomatic and economic domains but also in the space of mass communication, where the mutual image of the partner states is formed. Communication studies, however, lack agreement on whether the media component operates as an instrumental channel for transmitting ready-made decisions or as a constitutive environment that frames the relations themselves. The aim of the study is to determine conditions under which the media-centric approach allows optimization of bilateral relations to be described in operational terms. Conceptual analysis, discourse analysis of media practices, and a typological comparison of media-theoretical models are applied. Three modes of media participation in bilateral relations are distinguished – the channel mode, the environment mode, and the actor mode; optimization is shown to correspond to a shift from the monological projection of an image toward a dialogical mode of mutual recognition. Media logic, with its preference for conflict-laden and dramatized narratives, is identified as a structural obstacle to rapprochement, while the gap between media reality and the actual state of relations proves reducible through the dialogization of the agenda. The leading role of the media contour relative to the diplomatic one implies that optimization is achieved by reconfiguring the communicative mode rather than by intensifying one-sided image activity.