Media Image of the Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Republic of Bashkortostan

This article describes the results of a content analysis conducted on publications from regional electronic news resources in Bashkortostan, focusing on the ethnopolitical conflict related to the prosecution of F. Alsynov and the Baymak events from April 2023 to January 2024. Based on the examination of media publications from leading information portals within the federal subject, the authors identified a shift in rhetoric accompanying the development of confrontation, the emergence of tonal disproportion, and the rotation of interpretations. It is concluded that local media not only record the events taking place, but also play a key role in shaping the mass perception of protest activity as a legitimate or destructive phenomenon. The methodological framework in-cludes qualitative and quantitative content analysis using the Voyant Tools web application, as well as correla-tion analysis using Pearson coefficient. The study was conducted in order to identify key narratives, tonality and features of the coverage of the ethnopolitical conflict in the Republic of Bashkortostan at different stages of its development by key regional players in the media space.