The making of ‘Imagined global communities’: the ‘orientation’ and ‘orientalization’ of Russian speaking audiences
Date
2023-06-01
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Abstract
Heidi Erbsen uurib oma doktoritöös, kuidas inglise- ja venekeelne rahvusvaheline meedia räägib venekeelse lugejaskonnaga ja samast lugejaskonnast erinevates riikides. Uuurimismaterjal on kogutud ja analüüsitud enne Venemaa täiemahulist sissetungi Ukrainasse.
Eesti-Venemaa piirilinnast Narvast ning selle elanikest kirjutati rahvusvahelises inglisekeelses meedias aastatel 2015-2018 (st pärast Krimmi hõivamist Venemaa poolt ja enne täiemahulist sissetungi Ukrainasse 2022. aastal) orientaliseerival viisil, see tähendab loodi püsivaid stereotüüpe. Rahvusvaheliste venekeelsete uudiste illustratsioonidena kasutati stereotüüpseid pilte nagu Vladimir Putin, matrjoškad, Lenini kuju, tekstis kujutati seda kui konfliktipiirkonda Venemaa ja Lääne vahel. Samal ajal narvakad ei võtnud seda kujutusviisi omaks ning rääkisid oma kodulinnast kui ajalooliselt Rootsi ja Hansalinnast, tänasest Ida ja Lääne kohtumiskohast.
Yandexi algoritmi poolt pakutud uudissisu Venemaal, Eestis, Lätis ja USAs on erinev, mis näitab, et Venemma kontrollitud infovood on üsna killustunud. Rahvusvahelise uudismeedia toodetud kujutluspilt ei väljenda ajalooliselt, poliitiliselt või kultuuriliselt aktuaalseid teemasid kohalike venekelsete auditooriumide jaoks piisava nüansirikkusega. Seega rahvusvaheline meedia, mis peaks ideaalis olema väga paindlik, seda tegelikult ei ole. Vene keelt kõnelevate vähemusgruppidele eri riikides pakutakse uudissisu ja kujutluspilti venekeelsest auditooriumist, mis ei kujuta tõepäraselt inimesi (inglisekeelne sisu) ega kõneta neid (venekeelne sisu). Eesti venekeelne auditoorium suhestub aga rohkem kohalikest allikatest tuleva informatsiooniga ning vähem uudistega, mida Yandexi algoritm Eesti venekeelse lugeja jaoks pakub. Veelgi vähem huvitavad kohalikke venenekeelseid lugejaid Venemaa lugeja jaoks pakutavad uudised, sest need jäävad kaugeks.
The dissertation The making of ‘Imagined Global Communities’: the ‘orientation’ and ‘orientalization’ of Russian speaking audiences considers how international online media in English and Russian reports about and to Russian speaking audiences in different countries. The author shows how the city of Narva, Estonia (a city on the border with Russia) was reported on in international English news media from 2015-2018 (after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022). This reporting used fixed and stereotyped images of the city, such as pictures of Vladimir Putin, Russian nesting dolls, the statue of Lenin, etc., as a starting point to discuss larger international conflict between Russia and the West and demonstrate that Russia is an ominous and real threat. At the same time, from interviews with local Russian speakers in Narva in 2018, the author understood how residents worked to ‘slightly correct’ the way their city was represented: rather than being a historically Russian city, it is a city with a Swedish and Hanseatic past, and instead of a place for future conflict, Narva is a potential bridge between the East and West or a place for “a handshake or even a hug between Russia and Europe”. In investigating how Russian news media generated by the Yandex News algorithm reports based on the country filters for Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and the USA the author also found several differences in reporting to confirm that the Russian information space, even that controlled by the Russian Federation, was, as of 2019 quite fractured. Interviews with local Russian speakers in different cities in Estonia further showed how Russian speaking audiences in Estonia connect mostly with local information (shared by peers or known sources), to a lesser extent with content generated for Estonia, and lease of all with content from Russia which seemed rather ‘distant’ for respondents. Keeping in mind that this research took place before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this thesis sheds a great deal of light on how communication between international news media and increasingly diverse audiences, including Russian speaking minorities in Estonia, continues to operate in times leading up to larger international conflict.
The dissertation The making of ‘Imagined Global Communities’: the ‘orientation’ and ‘orientalization’ of Russian speaking audiences considers how international online media in English and Russian reports about and to Russian speaking audiences in different countries. The author shows how the city of Narva, Estonia (a city on the border with Russia) was reported on in international English news media from 2015-2018 (after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022). This reporting used fixed and stereotyped images of the city, such as pictures of Vladimir Putin, Russian nesting dolls, the statue of Lenin, etc., as a starting point to discuss larger international conflict between Russia and the West and demonstrate that Russia is an ominous and real threat. At the same time, from interviews with local Russian speakers in Narva in 2018, the author understood how residents worked to ‘slightly correct’ the way their city was represented: rather than being a historically Russian city, it is a city with a Swedish and Hanseatic past, and instead of a place for future conflict, Narva is a potential bridge between the East and West or a place for “a handshake or even a hug between Russia and Europe”. In investigating how Russian news media generated by the Yandex News algorithm reports based on the country filters for Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and the USA the author also found several differences in reporting to confirm that the Russian information space, even that controlled by the Russian Federation, was, as of 2019 quite fractured. Interviews with local Russian speakers in different cities in Estonia further showed how Russian speaking audiences in Estonia connect mostly with local information (shared by peers or known sources), to a lesser extent with content generated for Estonia, and lease of all with content from Russia which seemed rather ‘distant’ for respondents. Keeping in mind that this research took place before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this thesis sheds a great deal of light on how communication between international news media and increasingly diverse audiences, including Russian speaking minorities in Estonia, continues to operate in times leading up to larger international conflict.
Description
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Keywords
foreign media, Russian-speaking groups of populations, national minorities, stereotypes, representation (media), media studies