Representation of the Beilis case in the newspaper «Kievlyanin» (1911–1913)

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the study of the representation of the Beilis case in the conservative newspaper “Kievlyanin”. The subject of the study is presented in the broad historical context of modernization and nation-building in Russia in the early 20th century. These processes deter mined the “case” and the public discussion around it. The media played a major role in covering the Beilis case and public discussion of the current issues associated with it. The “Kievlyanin” had a large audience and was respected. It criticized the ritual version of the murder and insisted on Beilis’s innocence. The authors of the paper studied the newspaper’s materials for 1911–1913 using the content analysis method, established the semantic core of the publications, reconstruct ed the narrative about the “case”, identified the features of the approach of “Kievlyanin” to the “Jewish question”, journalistic ways of broadcasting it. They concluded that the Beilis case revealed a split in the Russian nationalist camp and highlighted the nuances of Russian national ism in the early 20th century.