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This paper focuses on problems around the definition by media in the West of a historically native ethnic group in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang – Uyghurs. It examines the approach of international media outlets to the issue of defining Uyghurs as “a minority,” “indigenous” ethnic group, or natives to the region that is officially autonomous and therefore, at least on paper, carries characteristics of an ethnic entity or statehood, similar to the Soviet Union’s republics in the past. The paper analyzes the definitions from legal, historic, international points of view and considers peculiarities and differences of such definitions in China and the West. The major definition of the group as “a minority” often sounds controversial as it shadows the fact that Uyghurs are living in the region that is officially and de facto considered as their historic native land. The term may be even misleading as not many in the West are aware about the historic backgrounds of China’s ethnic administrative units, and very often, journalistic reports are unable to present corresponding details as they are restricted in terms of their lengths. Some media outlets in the West define Uyghurs as “indigenous,” which certainly makes journalists’ work easier and gives some clarity to the audience, but still leaves many questions and might cause certain problems as there is no common understanding in the world about the term “indigenous people.” China has been reluctant to accept the term “indigenous people” saying that the West’s attempts to impose the concept of "indigenous peoples" on Asian nations in general is a form of neocolonialism. (Benedict Kingsbury, 1998). According to such approaches, the applicability of indigenous rights of China’s non-Han ethnic groups is far from clear due to the uncertainty of the definition of indigenous peoples and the complexity of the Chinese ethnic situation and the terminology used in Chinese law regarding minorities. (Linzhu Wang, 2015). The paper’s goal is to find out if the terms “minority” and “indigenous” are in fact eligible to describe or define Uyghurs and other ethnic groups native to Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.

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This study discusses the ways the nuclear power plant construction was framed in the Kazakhstan news media. The aim of the study is to reveal media frames and their features in news articles about the construction of nuclear power plants in the Kazakhstan news media. The research responds to the question what media frames characterize news publications about the construction of nuclear power plants in the Kazakhstan news media. The media frames typology is based on the set proposed by W. Gamson and A. Modigliani on the topic of nuclear power. The set represents two groups of media frames: pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear. The empirical base consists of 100 articles in the Kazakh and Russian languages on the topic of the nuclear power plant construction in 10 leading local news media (KazInform, TengriNews, Khabar, Zakon.kz, BaigeNews, Azattyk, KazTAG, ORDA, The Village Kazakhstan, Vlast) published between 2019 to 2022. The dominant, conflicting, and ambivalent frames for each discursive and linguistic group of articles were fixed. The results demonstrate consistency of frames distinction and the discursive orientation of media. Accordingly, pro-nuclear frames ("progress", "energy independence", "devil's bargain") are characteristic of state media articles, while anti-nuclear frames ("runaway", "soft paths", "public accountability") are typical of opposition news media articles. On a more general level, the same distribution is maintained in both groups of publications in Russian and Kazakh, as a rule, the publication language is not a factor of frame shift, but is an additional tool of the described information occasion alternative interpretation. The research key methodological problem is the non-consistency of the frame, i.e. presentation of inconsistent information within the unified groups of media frames. Since this methodological aspect of frame analysis has not been fully developed, in this study it is examined in detail on the example of Kazakhstan nuclear power plant construction coverage in local news media.

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This article explores how the media ecosystem plays a crucial role in societies, beyond just providing information, what are the abilities of this ecosystem to create new dimensions of security at both national and international levels, challenging previous assumptions and principles in the structure of relations and international law and contribute to conflict resolution. Within the lens of Diffusion of Innovations Theory and using the content analysis method and a descriptive-analytical approach, this study found that while the media can act as a weapon in the service of conflict and war, it can also be a strong tool to help resolve conflict and maintain peace. The media ecosystem can strengthen democratic platforms of conflict resolution and peace establishment by changing people's belief systems and cognitive systems, rebuilding trust, empowering social groups, and diversifying communication channels.

This study develops a new analytical framework to better understand the functions of the media ecosystem in conflict settlement and peacebuilding. This study proposes to move toward a functional perspective, centered on the roles that different actors can play in conflict situations. Such a functional perspective would enable analysts to better analyze existing and potential forms of media ecosystem engagement in conflict settlement and peacebuilding. In particular, it would help clarify policy and programming objectives, select media ecosystem partners, and help to set outcome indicators to improve monitoring and evaluation.