“Creating a problem” is a targeted selection of information to increase the importance of some events and decrease it in relation to others.
How does it work?
Raising the status of the “problem-target”:
Media cover a “favorable” event, giving it exceptional importance regardless of its true significance for society.
Lowering the status of the “problem-target”:
The media provide limited information about an “unfavorable” event, which lowers its status relative to its real significance to society and reinforces the perception that the event is not worthy of audience attention.
Example:
The russian media launched a campaign to cover information about Switzerland’s refusal to accept Ukrainian soldiers for treatment, while omitting the provision of the law on neutrality that guarantees that the country does not participate in hostilities after treatment. In this way, the russian media are trying to bring to the fore the problem of the gradual decline in support for Ukraine.
