Sündmuskohal kirjutatud välisuudised Eesti Päevalehes ja Postimehes 2006. aastal
Date
2007
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
While foreign news in big newspapers of Europe and USA are usually submitted by
correspondents located in various regions, Estonian publishers mostly use news
agencies, because resources at their disposal are limited. However more and more
articles written on location are starting to be published in Estonian newspapers and
therefore it is important to examine this subject.
The BA theses „Foreign News Written on Location in Eesti Päevaleht and Postimees
in 2006“ is focused on correspondence published by Estonian dailies Eesti Päevaleht
(EPL) and Postimees. The theses gives an overview of the locations, different types of
journalists and their typical methods as well as the choices of editorials in this subject.
The three types of journalists mentioned are: editorial reporters who practice
parachute journalism, traditional foreign correspondents and stringers. The objective
of this paper is to examine the particularities of the published articles submitted from
location based on the „Western Media“ set of rules.
The conclusions are drawn from EPL and Postimees 2006 editions, from which all
abroad written articles published on internal, foreign and economic pages have been
encoded (totaling 659). To explain the fruits of journalists and editorial policies, four
interviews were conducted – with editors in chief and representatives of foreign news
editorials of both dailies.
On location articles in Estonian dailies, similarly to „Western Media“, are mainly
focused on events in Europe, USA and Middle East. Stringers located in other parts of
the World improve the balance between regions a little, however their share is still
marginal. From Europe, correspondence from neighboring countries and EU events
are the most common. EPL's traditional foreign correspondent stationed in Brussels
can be outlined as the reason for the latter. Postimees is covering more news from
USA, because they have a traditional foreign correspondent in New York. Although
the neighboring states are strongly represented in the media, both publications agree
that more events in bordering countries should be covered on location. The low
coverage of Latvia and Lithuania is considered the greatest problem in this subject.
One reason for tilted coverage is small number of pages allocated to foreign affairs.
Investments made for a parachute journalists or traditional foreign correspondents can
be regained by publishing their stories. However, as the space is limited and
traditional foreign correspondents take their share, other topics and regions are under-
covered. Hyperactive stringers also cause out of proportion coverage. On location
stories from Spain are rather common in Estonian press, while articles from „Heart of
EU“ – Germany and France – are limited.
While ordering on location stories, the editorials have to take into account the limited
funding and human resources. Using stringers provides an incidental principle which
explicit in subjects and regions of low importance getting too much coverage and
personal connections playing a key role in finding journalists. The reason for that is
the lack of professional human resources.
The advantage of parachute journalists mostly working in editorial position is their
skill to connect subjects to Estonia, while other reporter types are further away from
Estonia and are not up to date with the tendencies and interests of Estonian readers.
Correspondents use more and more common people in addition to official publishes
as sources of information.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General)