Financial Times ja The Economist Eestist 2008–2009
Date
2010
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
Estonia in Financial Times and The Economist in 2008–2009
This master’s thesis analyses the coverage of Estonia in two major international newspapers.
The research assignment focused on the construction of Estonia in international media during
the years of economic crisis to determine if and how Estonian international success story had
transformed. Financial Times and The Economist were selected for this assignment as two
quality journalistic periodicals with global audience and focus on the European affairs.
One of the main theoretical concepts used is transition society, which marks the process of
societal change towards a certain endpoint. In the case of Estonia, transition society covers the
structural transformation of different aspects of Estonian society during the shift from a
communist/soviet society to a fully operating capitalist democratic western state, which has
been thoroughly conceptualised by Lauristin et al (1997). The word western associates with
the dimensions of cultural transition – Estonia is culturally a western country, as Huntingon
(1999) has described. But in the core of Estonian transition lies the economic dimension,
which has been the dominating indicator of Estonian transition processes. Kennedy (2002)
has shown how Estonian economic reforms during the 1990-s constructed the Estonian
success-story – Estonia was an ideal case of transformation to a free-market capitalist country
modelled by international institutions like the World Bank.
Ekecrantz’s (2004) analysis of the discursive construction of nation in the media with the
example of mapping discourses of Estonia in Swedish media provided a useful research
model. Ekecrantz’s research also showed how the Estonia has been normalised in western
media through economic relations, while in other domains (e.g. culturally) Estonia has
remained the representation of easterness or otherness.
The empirical data included 345 articles mentioning Estonia, that were analysed with three
methods, providing different levels of analysis. Content analysis showed the main dynamics
of the texts; combined analysis (qualitative analysis with quantitative elements) supplied the
data about the subjects covered in the texts; and discourse analysis presented the
macrostructures in the texts, i.e the dominating logical patterns how Estonia was constructed.
Three periods were drawn up from the two-year span of research material. The first period,
preceding the outbreak of global financial and economic crisis in September 2008, dominant
subject area in articles concerning Estonia was politics. Main events contributing to the
coverage included visa row between USA, European Comission, new EU member states like
Estonia and old member states; NATO summit in Bucharest, where Ukraine and Georgia
were denied Membership Action Plan because of Russian protest (which Estonia
condemned); Georgia-Russia armed conflict in August, after which Estonia pushed for a
harder reaction and sanctions towards Russia by the EU. The armed conflict in Georgia
marked a shift in Estonian security discourse. The danger of real Russian armed aggression
reappeared in the Estonian security discourse, which had been “demilitarised” previously.
This also brought along NATO contingency planning for the Baltics. In this first period, the
problems in Estonian economy (big current account deficit, extensive lending in foreign
currency, gap between wage rises and productivity gains) were laid out, but were not
emphasized like in the next periods.
Second period was marked with the disruption of world economic crisis as Lehman Brothers
bank collapsed in USA. Huge instability followed across the globe, the main “marker events”
concerning Estonia or giving comparison to Estonia were the collapse of Icelandic economy
and the nationalisation of Latvian Parex Bank in autumn 2008. These events comprised the
pattern against which Estonian economic outlook was compared. In this period, Estonia
transformed into a symbol of crisis-ridden country, suffering alongside Latvia the biggest fall
in GDP and increasing unemployment. The discourse of Estonian troubles constructed the
“danger from Estonia” or “dangerous Estonia” which basically had two meanings. Firstly,
possible devaluation of Estonian currency kroon (due to very large-scale contraction of
economy, preceding devaluation in the neighbouring Latvia or the retreat of major investors)
would have caused serious damage to Scandinavian finance sector and whole Scandinavian
economy, which was heavily exposed to Estonia. Secondly, Estonian devaluation would have
caused a wave of collapses or devaluations in the Central and Eastern Europe, as other
countries would have needed to regain competitiveness. Estonia was portrayed as a
contagious area that could affect others in a negative manner. The end of the second period
was placed in June 2009, when a very high international pressure formed concerning the
devaluation of Latvian lat and then dropped off.
The third period, from June 2009 to the end of the year, was marked with some minor rises in
attention paid to Estonia. The majority of coverage dealt with the adaptation of Estonian
society to the crisis as the government had chosen the way of “internal devaluation” or severe
austerity programme in public finances. Estonia dramatically reduced its public spending over
time in a successful manner, which led to positive and astonishing articles. Specific discursive
pattern emerged, as Estonia was characterized as “hardened under communist rule”. This
pattern was popular in explaining how the government maintained its legitimacy after
draconian cuts. Although a certain goal and a bonus was advertised in exchange for this
suffering – namely the fulfilling of Maastricht criteria and joining the eurozone – the Estonian
society stayed stabilised and consolidated because it had a collective experience of societal
change during the collapse of Soviet Union and transition in 1990-ies. This gave a basis of
comparison for suffering and made this crisis much easier to bare, the two papers suggested.
As a conclusion, the research showed that Financial Times as well as The Economist establish
Estonia as an implicit part of Europe. It is important to devote energy and attention to
mediating news about Estonia. The years of economic crisis and the exhaustion of economic
model that fuelled growth in Estonia marked an important shift in the way Estonia was
portrayed internationally. While the economic logic had underpinned the Estonian success
story during the transition in the 1990-ies, the same logic now created the picture of
dangerous and contagious Estonia. Two major international publications consider Estonia as a
nation, whose problems are not isolated but matter beyond borders. This means, that the
challenge in finding a sustainable model for Estonia’s future development is not only a
question for the country itself, but also a detail in the development of Europe.
Keywords
magistritööd, ajakirjandus, välisajakirjandus, majandusajakirjandus, majandus, majanduskriisid, majanduslangus, üleminekuühiskond, Eesti