Image of Russian political parties on YouTube in the 2016 and 2021 elections

Abstract

The construction of political images is an important element of electoral strategy. The rapid development of media space opportunities predetermines the interest of studying images on YouTube, which is very popular among Russians. The article deals with the peculiarities of the formation and promotion of Russian parties' images on YouTube in the elections to the State Duma in 2016 and 2021. For this purpose, the study identifies three image components: programme-ideological, personal and activity. For each image component, criteria were proposed, the presence or absence of which in the videos determined the degree of their promotion. It was found that the personality component of the YouTube image prevailed during the election campaigns of all the parties, except for the CPRF. The main component of this party's image in 2016 and 2021 was programmatic and ideological.