Back 2 School Featured Papers – Week 5

Dear Reader,

Fake news. In today’s global media-scape, the term has become a divisive buzz word and a political cudgel. Popularized by President Donald Trump, fake news has a storied history dating back to Mark Antony and Octavian. Contrary to popular belief, fake news is as old as Western Civilization. No surprise then that it has reappeared over the centuries during various periods of political toil and trouble.

This week’s papers examine the role of fake news in our modern time. One deals explicitly with US media polarization and what effects it has for our nation. The other looks at Russian military movements in Eastern Ukraine, a cat and mouse game where independent media reports, amateur OSINT collection, and satellite imagery add to speculation and volatility. The battlefields these papers discuss are psychological in nature. Hearts and minds, rather than cities and villages, are the objectives to be seized.

Our authors are Flavia Roscini (MAIA 2022) and Tripp Callaway (MAIR 2022). Roscini examines the contemporary American media landscape and explores growing biases in domestic news organizations. Callaway analyzes Russian military buildup along the Ukrainian border during Spring 2021 and how it fits into Russian strategic and military thinking. Both papers are incredibly pertinent (as of writing, Russia has once again caused alarm by military movements on the Ukrainian border) and will contribute to ongoing academic debates.

Here are the links to this week’s papers:

How The American Media Landscape is Polarizing the Country By Flavia Roscini 

Russia’s Ukraine Camping Trip: A Neorealist-Constructivist Interpretation By Joseph “Tripp” Callaway

To help diversify our publication schedule, Wednesday will now serve as our weekly date to release Opinion pieces. Expect not one but TWO Opinion pieces next Wednesday.

Until next week!

Sincerely,

Eduard J. Miska

Editor-in-Chief