The article examines the initial period of the Russo-Japanese war (January-March 1904) based on the materials of the weekly Russian journal "Ogonek". The authors used the files of the journal "Ogonek"as materials. At the specified time, the journal was a weekly issue which focused on the mass reader. In total, 14 issues of the journal were reviewed (from the 1st to the 14th for 1904), which covered the pre-war period and the initial military period (up to the presentation on the pages of the journal of the events of March 31, 1904 - the death of the armadillo "Petropavlovsk"). In conclusion, the authors state that the emphasis in the coverage of the events of the initial period of the Russian-Japanese war in the journal was on visualization. Using the photo series, a holistic picture of the events of the war was formed. At the same time, the editor and correspondents of the newspaper tried to present a photo series taking into account the regional specifics. There was a place not only for Russians, but also for Tungus, and Chinese, and Japanese. Trying not to repeat the publication of materials for the weekly journal "Niva", the editor of "Ogonek"did not publish the official documents about the beginning of the war, but focused on presenting the process of reading the supreme manifesto by the residents of the capital. It was quite an interesting move, which demonstrated the interest of the residents of the capital to the message about the beginning of the war. Another constant theme that was visualized on the pages of "Ogonek"was the volunteer movement to the front, in which not only the lower ranks of the army, officers, officials and generals took part, but also representatives of the ruling dynasty. This theme formed the image of the unity of the Russian people in the fight against the aggressor. That was also very important in the context of the conflict. Copyright © 2021 by Cherkas Global University.