Nowadays all media sources are employed as an effective source of propaganda broadcasting certain political ideas and issues. The paper views the texts of quality press editions belonging to the political discourse which can be found in the sections “Opinion”, “Politics”, and “Editorial” published from the beginning of 2022 till April 2024. In the paper, we prove that due to a well-established reputation of a reliable information provider quality press is one of the key players in the present media market as it is actively involved in the most current political events, taking an active part in forming and maintaining politician’s media image, and manipulating the public opinion. The research aims at identifying and describing discursive strategies and tactics that are employed for forming and maintaining the positive or negative image of a politician in the English-speaking quality press. The analysis of text was carried out with the help of critical discourse analysis method, the theory of semantic fields was also used for viewing and describing the texts we analyzed. The results that the author obtained suggest that “intensify” strategy is used to present a favorable image. Presentation tactics aimed at highlighting the positive qualities and actions is often used for implementation of “intensify” strategy. “Downplay” strategy implemented by accusation and offense tactics is often used for creating a negative media image. Quality press papers tend to publish negative forecasts about the actions of political leaders or the results of their work, that can cause the negative evaluation of such events that can consequently cast a certain unfavorable influence on the general assessment of the politician’s image. The strategy of phantom threat creates a gap between politicians and other people, depriving political leaders of the support of their electorate. The research proves that the ability to cast a significant manipulative influence on the image of a politician makes quality press an effective tool in political battles.
