Content analysis is one of the most frequently used methods that shows significant results when applied during studies on political psychology for students enrolled in the departments of political sciences, psychology, international relations, journalism and applied communications in
St. Petersburg State University as all these departments widely use media materials for study purposes. Content analysis is used for studying sources that are invariant in their structure or contents, but as a text form are organized chaotically. The article explains the method of content analysis of Russian and foreign media texts covering the events in Syria after the chemical attack
on the citizens of Ghouta (2013). Suggested method may be used for studying political events that are conflictogenic by their nature. Authors come to the conclusion that content analysis of media texts is a crucial component of developing critical thinking and media expertise in students.
An important part of the training is mastering the key concepts, allowing to understand the significant subjects in the media producing, broadcasting or consuming one or another content.