Where do Russian-speakers in Estonia get their (political) information?

Andres Jõesaar, Associate Professor of Media Policies at the Baltic Film, Media and Arts School, will give an open lecture in English on the different worlds of information here in Estonia

22 February at 14:15-15:45
Lossi 36-214 (with the option of Zoom attendance - see below)

The ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war has revealed stark contrasts in the political perceptions, views and opinions of ethnic Estonians and Russian-speakers living in Estonia. Where do Russian-speakers get their information? What sources and channels do they trust? How have media consumption patterns among Estonia’s Russian-speakers changed since February 2022 and what was the impact of the ban on Russian state channels? All these questions are highly relevant in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections (March 5, 2023).

The lecture will offer an overview of the development in the Estonian media landscape over the last thirteen years. It will cover three main areas, including:

• the opinions of both the Estonian- and the Russian-speaking communities on the importance and credibility of different information sources;
• the satisfaction of both communities with the content and activities of the Estonian Public Broadcasting;
• the impact of the launch of the Russian-language public TV channel ETV+ on the Russian-speaking audience.

The presentation is based on seven in-depth media consumption and audience satisfaction surveys (2010, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023; n = 1000), annual TV audience surveys (2010-2023), and focus group interviews conducted at the end of 2022.

Andres Jõesaar is Associate Professor of Media Policies at the Baltic Film, Media and Arts School in Tallinn, and Media Advisor to the Estonian Ministry of Culture. Dr. Andres Jõesaar has a long experience in the media and telecom industries, especially on the management, content side and media research. In the 1990s he was one of the founding members of the private television channel RTV and the general director of the commercial broadcaster TV3. From 2000 to 2011, he was the director for the content services in the Estonian branch of the Tele2. Between 2000-2012, Jõesaar was the chairman of the Council of the Estonian Public Broadcasting. He has been a member and chair of several Council of Europe’s and OSCE expert groups. During 2011-2018 he was head of media research department at the Estonian Public Broadcasting.

FOR ZOOM:

If you can't attend the lecture in person, feel free to fill the form here by noon on Tuesday, 21 February, to get the zoom link to your e-mail: https://forms.gle/2fLzjCmtmVrSXGvU7

Published by: Evelyn Pihla, evelyn.pihla@ut.ee