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○ Cherevko Taras
In the contemporary information paradigm of world politics the positive image of a state plays a significant role in foreign affairs.Depending on the image （positive or negative） a country has on the world arena，it can provoke trust or concern among other states.
Although the image of a state is a phenomenon of the 20 th century along with advertising and marketing，it is closely connected with the history of the country：political，cultural and social.In the past the image of a country was formed by foreign travelers，their stories，notes and then was passed along by word of mouth.This dissemination of information about a country surely was very slow and was conducted in one way：an image presented once as a specific feature of a country could exist without any changes for several generations.
Today the situation is quite the opposite.Thanks to the TV，Internet and mobile devices as well as the possibility to get in touch instantly with people from other countries，to get pictures，news，opinion and rumors，the image of a country can be changed abruptly.As the changes in such a serious information construction that an image of a country may be spontaneous，the state，which takes care of its position on the world arena，very often takes the needed measures to create a task-oriented，predictable and integral image.
For the last several decades many states faced the necessity to create their own manageable image.The significance of image communication becomes clear when you take a look at the budgets，which the governments of some countries spend for this sphere.Thus，during the last ten years the USA spent 3 billion US dollars （1 billion-state investments，2 billion-private contributions） for promoting their own image abroad，
Great Britain spent 1.3 billion，and Saudi Arabia allocated nearly 6 billion dollars a year.
China has spent 6.4 billion，of which 122 million，according to Chinese bloggers，were spent on the video，which was aimed at promoting the image of China in the USA.
Taking into account the world trends，it is not astonishing that the Russian Federation is taking steps to improve its image in the world.
Analyzing the practical steps，aimed at the creation （transformation） of the state image of Russia，two main approaches may be defined.Firstly，the creation of communication channels，targeted at international and national audiences，which can be used to transmit image information.Secondly，the creation and actualization of coverage opportunities，which make it possible to present the state in a favorable way.
The starting point of creating a task-oriented formation of Russia’s image dates back to 2006，when the country launched projects，aimed at improving the vision of Russia abroad.These projects include the creation of TV channels Russia Today and its version in Arabic Russia Al Yum，Russia Beyond the Headlines project
-series of supplements to the biggest world newspaper.In the USA this is the Washington Post，in Great Britain-the Daily Telegraph，in Brasil Jornal do Brasil.Besides，there are editions in Argentina，Bulgaria，India，Spain，France，Italy，Japan and other states （all in all more then 20 countries）.
As one can see，these projects put the main emphasis on the foreign audience，although initially the Economic Development Ministry，which initiated image-changing projects，declared that they aimed at forming the image within the borders of the country.Today the main tool of forming the home image of Russia is the television，especially the federal channels.The numbers of TV viewers and the level of trust to the television content back this point.
At the same time the Russian government has signed an agreement with the US PR company Kechum.It’s interesting that apart from the Russian Federation the Ketchum clients include the Pentagon，the company FedEx and others.According to data available on the site of the US Ministry of Justice，for the six years of working on the image of Russia the firm has received 23 billion dollars.
Among the most significant projects，aimed at forming the image of Russia，is the preparation of the G8 summit in Saint-Petersburg.In 2012 the Russian government decided not to prolong the agreement with the PR company.One of the reasons for this was the low efficiency of the collaboration.
It is obvious that these expenses aimed at enhancing the image of the country need further assessment and analysis.For defining the changes in such a multidimensional construction of the image of a country，we need the necessary tool to set an a tested methodology.
Today the assessment of a country image and the efficiency of the means targeted at its creation are conducted usually based on the so-called indexes of country image.The agencies，which define this indicators，emerged in the beginning of the 2000s，which can be explained by the growing interest of many states and the world community to the issue of image as a whole.The creation of images of different countries has provoked the need to assess them and compare them with rival countries.
Up to now in the world there are several most authoritative companies，which conduct research in the sphere of state and country image.Based on the quotation index as well as the representation of the studies，we have chosen three most popular indexes：Country Brand Index （CBI），Nation Brands Index （NBI），GlobeScan.Usually the results of these studies are presented in annual reports with country ratings，which are included in the research.In case the country changes its position in the rating compared to the data of the previous year （which happens quite often），the company presents its own explanation of this change.Image ratings and the explanatory notes to them are taken into account when investors，businessmen and business-analysts make their decisions.
According to the creator of the most popular rating Nation Brands-Index Simon Anholt，the image of a country can be assessed based on a number of image markers：tourist attractiveness，human capital （talents，friendliness/ hostility etc），quality of the exported goods，justice of the government，attractiveness of the culture and sport，investment prospects，attractiveness of the country as a place of living.
An analysis of these indicators allows to create a rating，which is showed in the chart.
Nation Brands Index Overall Brand Ranking （Top 10 of 50 Nations）
Alternative research methods are used by the company GlobeScan in cooperation with BBC.As its basis the researchers take the ratio between the positive and negative attitude to a certain country expressed by respondents.One of the main questions in the questionnaire is：What is your attitude to country X？ More positive or more negative？
GlobeScan The Country Ratings Poll
As analysis shows，the position of each state in the rating is defined based on opinion polls among respondents from a number of states （from 15 to 50），and these respondents not always have the experience of visiting this or that country.Despite that fact they have a certain image about the qualities of a country，which is used as a basis for the rating.The understanding of the way respondents get information about a certain country，which channels the audience trusts most （or the image forming has a spontaneous character），is especially interesting both for researchers and states，who take care of their own image.
In interviews，representatives of research groups note that the audience gets the information，mostly from the media.Personal experience and direct communication each year are falling by the wayside.Among information channels，which form people’s perception of a state，researchers from the Country Brand Index can distinguish the Internet，especially UGC （user generated content）.At the same time crucial information sources about different countries still include the press and TV.The lack of information about a state，as well as its social，economic and political situation creates a danger which may lead to form a negative image.Thus we can prove the opinion that transparency and accessibility of information about a country on the local and foreign media market is one of the crucial conditions for creating a strong and stable country image.
This assertion is proved by the data cited in the reports of Country Brand Index，where Russia along with China is referred to the group of countries，who don’t move forward to the top of the rating due to the fact that they don’t use much self-promotion.
Author：Cherevko Taras，Senior research fellow，Chairs of Media Theory and Economics，Faculty of Journalism，Lomonosov Moscow State University.