Euroopa Finantsstabiilsuse Fondi representatsioon Äripäevas ja Õhtulehes

Abstract

Representation of the European Financial Stability Facility in Äripäev and Õhtuleht The purpose of this bachelor thesis (Representation of the European Financial Stability Facility in Äripäev and Õhtuleht) is to analyze how have two major Estonian daily newspapers Äripäev and Õhtuleht reflected the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) before 29. September 2011 – the date when Estonian Parliament Riigikogu ratified the draft that made Estonia a member of EFSF. The general purpose of this bachelor thesis is to analyze how well have Äripäev and Õhtuleht .played their roles in developing deliberative democracy through the discussion about EFSF and how well has Estonian media placed in European public sphere. This thesis concentrates on finding out when was this topic most actively talked about, who were the main spokepersons, which opinions dominated in both newspapers and what kind of arguments were used when expressing support or resistance towards the ratification of the EFSF draft. This thesis is trying to find out what kind of public opinion about EFSF was constructed in the opinion articles and news articles based on the opinion of one source. Different source materials and documents have been used as sources for the theoretical and empirical framework of this thesis. J. Bryant´s and Thompson´s “Fundamentals of Media Effects”, D. McQuail´s “Mass Communication Theory”, P. Chilton´s and C. Schäffner´s “Discourse and Politics” and other theoretical works have been used in this thesis. In order to find answers to questions raised all the articles, which were published in the online-editions of Äripäev and Õhtuleht before 21:57 29. September 2011 and that talked about EFSF were considered as part of the general selection. 173 articles that discussed EFSF were published during the selected period. 71 of these articles were opinion articles or news articles based on one source´s opinion. 39 opinion articles that reflect direct support or resistance towards EFSF were taken under closer examination and were more thoroughly analyzed in this thesis. The background information of EFSF and its connection with Estonia are presented in the theoretical and empirical overview chapter. This chapter also explains what is the role of media in a society and talks about the construction and essence of agenda-setting and public opinion. Results of the analysis indicate that 173 articles were published in Äripäev and in Õhtuleht that discussed EFSF during the period until 29. September 2011. The topic was most actively talked about in the one-month-period until 29. September 2011 when 73 articles were published. As it appeared during the analysis, it is possible to bring out spokespersons according to spheres of activity. Politicians wrote the greatest number of opinion articles. They published 49 articles. 18 articles were written by scientists, experts or analytics. Journalists wrote eight articles. All together 22 articles, which is 56% of the total number of articles under examination, expressed support towards EFSF. 17 articles were against EFSF. Integrated content analysis showed that the most popular arguments were represented in recommending modality, reflected economical ot financial reasons and were localized to Estonia. The analysis showed also that the usage of different arguments differed a lot among different social groups (mainly politicians and experts). Also, the supporters and opponents of EFSF tended to use different modalities. Throughout all articles the arguments focused on Estonia dominated arguments with other localities. In the chapter of discussion and conclusions the author presented some possibilities how to develop this work further. One possibility is to enlarge the selection of the articles by adding texts published after 29. September 2011 and other editions like Postimees and Eesti Päevaleht. The other possibility is to interview the editors-in-chief and journalists with the purpose to find out how editorials and opinion articles are written. In conclusion it can be said that Äripäev and Õhtuleht have not done enough to develop deliberative democracy as the supporters and opponents of EFSF tend to use different types of arguments and do not fall into debate too often. It can also be said that these editions do not participate enough in European public sphere as most of the arguments that are used are localized to Estonia.