The prestigious journal Media History, which is in the Scopus Q1, published an article by a PhD student of Historical Sociology Petr Gulenko. It examines discourse of the so-called Spanish flu in Soviet Russia between 1918 and 1919 in two periodicals - Pravda (Truth) and Izvestia (News). This work represents a significant culmination of his research on the Spanish flu epidemic's implications in early Soviet Russia and it was supervised by professor Šubrt. The article The Inconspicuous Epidemic: Spanish Flu Discourse in National Newspapers of Soviet Russia (1918-1919) is in open access thanks to the university's Open Science Support Centre.
This research investigates the discourse of the so-called ‘Spanish flu’ in the national Soviet newspapers Pravda (Truth) and Izvestia (News) during the epidemic period of 1918–1919. Our analysis revealed that discourse developed in three stages, each with specific characteristics. The nature of discourse was, above all, impacted by ideological factors, while reporters and Bolshevik authorities promoting this type of discourse were primarily guided by political expediency. Lack of adequate and comprehensive information on the disease, its etiology, and its spread not only around the world but also in Soviet Russia, administrative and bureaucratic problems, and simultaneous epidemics of other infectious diseases (cholera and typhus) were also significant factors.
Doporučení z periodika Illustrated Current News z roku 1918.
Charles University
Faculty of Humanities
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182 00 Praha 8 - Libeň
Czech Republic
