Eesti vähemuste kodakondsusküsimuste representatsioon päevalehtedes Postimees ja Eesti Päevaleht
Date
2005
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
The bachelor theses “Representation of the concept of citizenship of Estonian
minorities in dailies Postimees and Eesti Päevaleht” is conducted on quantitative and
qualitative media analysis based on articles published in the Estonian dailies
Postimees and Eesti Päevaleht in the time period of January 1, 2004 to December 31,
2004. The current problem is highly topical as 153 500 people, comprising 11 per cent
of the whole Estonian population, are not citizens of any country, including of
Estonia. A situation of this sort is very likely to cause conflicts on the political and
international arenas and also cause social unrest and distress in the country.
The work process of the current theses consisted of conducting quantitative media
content analysis and qualitative content analysis of chosen text units. By analyzing the
time of publishing, genre, general attitudes to the subjects of minorities and
citizenship, main central figures in the articles, argument authors and motives of
articles, I aimed to find answers to the following questions: what genre do the articles
represent, who are part of the debate, what is the balance between different parties in
the debate, who are the central figures and subjects of the debate, what are the general
attitudes towards the minorities and their wish to acquire Estonian citizenship, what
have been the motives behind writing the articles.
In quantitative analysis, I analyzed 69 text units, more than half of which are news in
their format and a quarter opinion articles. This demonstrates the high topicality and
noticeable interest and importance of the topic in the society. Attitudes are generally
negative or rather negative, which can be explained by the relatively negative public
opinion amongst the ethnic majority towards the minorities and their citizenship
issues.
Although the subject might presume a remarkably high percentage of minority
representatives in terms of central figures in the text units, it turned out not to be so.
Instead, representatives of both sides – majority and minorities – we almost equally
represented as characters in the articles. Most of all, text units concentrated on general
non-grouped minorities, also on concrete representatives of minorities. Presumably it is important to the dailies in their work methods to use concrete examples to illustrate
the point of their articles. Of the majority, two types of majority were mostly depicted
as central figures – non-grouped general ethnic majority and government institutions.
As authors of arguments, representatives of the ethnic majority dominated the scene.
Leaving aside the ethnic composition of different groups, government institutions in
Estonia and elsewhere stood out as authors of argument on almost half of the cases.
Qualitative analysis of ten text units underlines two main arguments. First,
representatives of the ethnic majority in the articles presume that minorities are
negative and dishonest in nature, as they get caught with deceit and crime on a regular
basis, which creates bad image for the state of Estonia. In case of each individual their
right for citizenship is questioned. Minorities are also considered to be lazy and
disrespectful to the Estonian state and culture as they do not wish to or are not capable
of learning the state language. Yet, government institutions express enthusiasm and
support in reforms for simplifying the process of integration and acquiring citizenship.
Second, minority representatives claim that they are being constantly discriminated
against and the attitude to them by the majorities is pejorative. Minorities complain
that majority representatives take them as second-rate people or even lower race. That
even despite their urbane looks and good knowledge of the Estonian language. Yet,
minority representatives state that Estonian citizenship is vital for a good life.
Citizenship does not guarantee but gives a good starting point for persuing a good
education and successful career, which otherwise might prove to be impossible. Also,
minority representatives are very aware of the fact that citizenship involves lots of
rights and privileges, including the European Union citizenship.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd, ajakirjandus, kodakondsus, sotsiaalne representatsioon, Postimees (ajaleht), Eesti Päevaleht (ajaleht), vähemused