Hijacking of news (newsjacking) - Conspiracy theories or tactic for international media consumption, Crimea and Kosovo

Abstract

In March of 2014, when international media were reacting and opposed military intervention of the Russian army on the territory of Ukraine, in the province of Crimea, a strong statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin changed the media coverage of the event. He stated that "Crimea is Kosovo". He stressed that "the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine is similar to the annexation of Kosovo from Serbia, and every other argument is just an attempt to break the rules applied in the case west of Kosovo." This statement gave the start a media war that was not seen before, giving the public attention from the real event and catering to a kind of information that transcend diplomatic conspiracy channels. This paper will make a thorough analysis of how foreign policy uses public relations techniques to be present in the global media. On the other hand, the paper will make an analysis of how media become the subject of conspiracy theories in international relations