Eesti pilt Prantsuse ja Belgia päevalehtedes aastatel 2002-2005
Date
2006
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
In this bachelor thesis the author wanted to find out what kind of image Estonia had in
French and Belgium newspapers during the period 2002 - 2005. The aim of this
research paper was to explain and illustrate the existence and character of the image of
Estonia in the biggest quality newspapers in France and French newspapers in
Belgium, before and after the accession to the EU. From 1994, the start of the
accession negotiations until today, Estonia have had numerous extensive
transformations in its life which was complemented by the increasing discovery of our
country in Europe.
To find out how the image of Estonia looked like, the main research questions were:
What kind of change in attention Estonia had in these newspapers in this particular
period? What were the main approaches to Estonia? What changes have there been in
the intensity of articles with regard to Estonia¥s accession to the EU? What kind of
image of Estonia can be identified in the old EU member-states press?
The author found it relevant to rely this thesis on the studies of international social
space. As media is one of the most influential factor to shape pictures in people¥s
heads, journalism has an important role to create and maintain the formation of image
which involves also transmission of stereotypes.
Our ideas about our self-image tend to be quite often very extreme: whether too critical
or unfoundedly positive. The image created in foreign journalism is therefore as a
mirror, a reflection fromwho we are, our lives and perfomances. It helps us to evaluate
ourselves more objectively compareed with the pictures in our heads.
Foreign press writes about Estonia very variously. To rely on the geographical and
gepolitical logic, it is clear that our adjoining countries pay more attention to Estonia¥s
life than others. For example: while nordic neighbours write about Estonian culture, economic affairs and sport, Russian press tend to focus more on ethnic minorities and
orthodox topics.
This work is based on content analysis and also qualitative text analysis. The content
analysis helped to answer main research questions posed in the beginning but it was
necessary to take a deeper look in the articles and to find out if there were any
dominant power relations hidden in the texts. Altogether 129 articles were analyzed
from 2002 until 2005. There were only articles selected with the word Estonia or
words related to Estonia (like Tallinn, Estonienne etc) in their heading.
Study found out that according to the degree of attention paid to Estonia there can be
two different periods distinguished: 2002 - 2003 as pre-accession period to the EU and
2004 - 2005 as full and equal member state in the EU. Main difference appeared in the
amount of published articles and variety of topics. Analyzed articles showed that major
topics were politics and economic affairs, less culture and social life with neutral and
positive approach, while negative events occured quite rarely. Enlargement of the
European Union had very active impact on articles publishing intensity, A month
before the accession Estonian-related articles increased to their highest point.
In the old EU member states written press we can distinguish specific subjects related
to Estonia. The most recurrent topics in the foreign press during last five years were
"return to Europe" and "formation of consciousness in the Baltic States" Problems in
Estonian society seem to be reported somehow more transparent and neutral than in
our own press.
In summary the results of this paper show that French and Belgium daily newspapers
reflect Estonia relatively seldom and mostly in common topics. The most obvious
approaches were neutral and positive, although geographical, cultural and economical
background are different compare with Estonian image in neighbour countries newspapers.
All those images of Estonia in foreign countries newspapers should have the great
importance for us, cause thanks to the newspapers¥ large circulation, published articles
and impressive readership the accomplishments and performances of Estonians are
able to go to the world. Through this, the world has opened itself to Estonia and
Estonia has become more transparent to the world.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd, ajakirjandus, välisajakirjandus, Eesti, kuvand