Browsing by Subject "Russian-speakers"

This master’s thesis argues that the public discussion in Estonia on the necessity of a national Russian-language TV channel was heavily securitized. Following broad debate involving politicians, experts and journalists, the channel ETV+ went on air in 2015, as a part of Estonian Public Broadcasting. This thesis studies statements by Estonian public figures relating to the TV channel through the securitization framework. First, the thesis explores securitization theory, developed by the Copenhagen School. The theory broadens the notion of security to non-military domains. The Copenhagen School argued that an issue becomes a matter of security if placed above every-day politics, once an actor convinces the audience of the existential threat posed to the referent object. Despite extensive criticism, securitization is applicable to the issue of national minorities. The thesis scrutinizes the social and political background of Russian-speakers in Estonia, with special attention devoted to the group’s media landscape. The thesis then pivots to the discussion over ETV+ and the arguments employed. Following either predominantly domestic (the “Bronze Soldier” riots) or global crises (the annexation of Crimea and the war in Eastern Ukraine), numerous concerns were raised about Estonia’s Russian-speaking community, especially its susceptibility to follow the Russian government-controlled media and therefore the community’s challenged loyalty to Estonia. Thus, Russian-speakers were perceived by in Estonian public debate as the group most vulnerable to Russian information warfare. In order to ensure unbiased media coverage, attempts were made to establish a public Russian-language channel in 2007-8. However, these efforts ran short. The state did not opt for a full-scale public Russian-language channel, but limited its support to several commissioned TV shows instead. In 2014-5, the revived debate over the Russian-language channel coincided with European (2014) and domestic (2015) elections, becoming a topic widely discussed by politicians and candidates. Both proponents and opponents of a TV channel referred to the Ukraine crisis and Russia’s hybrid warfare as reasons for or against the channel. Securizing remarks were common within debate, regardless of speaker’s ethnicity/language, political or professional affiliation. The local Russian-speaking community was poorly involved in the early stage of the debate, and its public figures were skeptical over the way and timing the new channel’s creation. Several politicians and journalists tried to convince the audience that the new channel was not a means of counter-propaganda. The creation of a channel was above partisan politics, as both the coalition and the opposition mainly were in favor, albeit with different justifications. This thesis concludes that the securitized debate itself is insufficient to evaluate the channel’s perception by the target audience and its subsequent performance. It therefore proposes several other avenues for prospective research.