Eesti kujutamine Soome online-meedias Soome kohalike ja sündmuskohal viibivate ajakirjanike pilgu läbi

Date

2012

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Publisher

Tartu Ülikool

Abstract

Before the second independence of Estonia Finns didn't know exactly what was the country that sits on the opposite shore of the Gulf of Finland like. At the same time northern Estonians were more informed of happenings that took place in Finland, because of the availability of Finnish television. The reason of this asymmetric flow of information was obviously related to Soviets era reclusion and that is why Estonia was quite unreachable to Finns. Nowadays, when borders are open the contacts between Estonia and Finland are improving. Also travelling from Finland to Estonia is very popular. So it is possible to say, that Finns are more informed about Estonia than they have been in the past. Still, beside the personal contacts or experiences and perceptions of Estonia the imagery of Estonia is also based on its representation in media. The thesis at hand: "Representation of Estonia in Finnish online-media from the perspective of on-the-scene and local journalists" is focused on the differences between on-the-scene and Finnish local journalists representation of Estonia in Finnish online-media. The aims of this research is to analyze how the picture of Estonia is formed in online-versions of Helsingin Sanomat and Aamulehti by different types of journalists and what aspects are influencing this process. In my research I have focused on three theoretical aspects - social space, representation of space and personal space. It is important to analyze how these spaces are related to different types of journalists and their work of representing Estonia. Also in empirical bases I have brought out short history of Estonian-Finnish relations and given a review of earlier researches that are related to the thesis at hand. Also I would like to point out the fact that although there have been researches on representation of Estonia in foreign media and also the work of on-the-scene journalists has been analyzed before, a research that would deal with both of these aspects does not exist. The conclusions for the thesis are made based on Helsingin Sanomat and Aamulehti editions, from which one hundred articles related to Estonia were selected and encoded. To explain the background of these results five interviews were conducted - with editor in chief, representatives of foreign news editorials and on-the-scene journalists of both online-dailies. Also a questionnaire was made and sent to 85 Finnish local journalists to gather more information of their work and background of their Estonian articles. Main differences between the local and on-the-scene journalists was reflected mainly how well they were informed of Estonia and what sources they used in their articles. It can be said that on-the-scene journalists were more able to write news that were not based on information of different media channels. Also it can be said that because of the distance between 2 countries Finnish local journalists perceived Estonia a bit more neutral than on-the-scene journalist. Mainly because local journalists information was based on information found from media channels or their own experiences what were said to been more positive than negative. Also, results of interviews and questionnaires showed that the articles by both types of journalists were related to their personal preferring. But the main aspect of representing Estonia was that it had to be interesting or important to Finns. So, it can be said that most journalists depend on boundaries set by editors, who made this kind of decisions. Moreover, the aim of this research was to analyze how important it is for both types of journalists to write about Estonia. Results of formalized questionnaire and interviews reflected that it is quite important. There were mentioned aspects of similarity of culture, bounding relations and approving collaboration between two nations. Also opinion of both journalists and editors were that writings of Estonia seem to interest Finns more because it is a geographically and culturally close country. In their opinion it was important to give as relevant and combined picture of Estonia as possible. The conclusion of the thesis at hand would be that representation of Estonia by different types of journalist in Finnish online-dailies varies. There were differences between local and on-the-scene journalists, but the representative way was quite same. Both types of journalist serve their readers and take into account their needs and interests. Moreover, it can be also said that Finns understand better the articles that have been written by local journalists. That's because they write about thing that are important to Finland. Therefore articles of on-the-scene journalists can be a bit more difficult to understand but they represent life in Estonia more deeply. It can be said that combination of different articles by different types of journalists give Finns a quite realistic representation of Estonia. However subjects what are preferred by journalists and editors are presented more than those that are not. Still the interpretation is made by readers who interpret given representation in their own way.

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