scholarly journals Russia's ‘Sharp Power’ Manifestations in Lithuania's Mass Media

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-102
Author(s):  
Gerda Jakštaitė-Confortola

Abstract The concept of ‘sharp power’ has recently emerged as a reaction to the assertiveness of authoritarian regimes. It serves to underline the complexity of challenges which are posed by authoritarian regimes, referring to diverse front lines in the overall ‘battle’, be they culture, education, or the media. The latter, according to Dmitri Trenin, “has become such a crowded battlefield”. This paper attempts to fill in the information gap regarding Russia’s ‘sharp power’ manifestations in Lithuania’s mass media and focuses on NATO related messages in particular. The paper presupposes that messages which evoke an air of support for Russia’s foreign and security policy tend to pass through to Lithuania’s mass media, and argues that, as a result of the insufficient activity by Lithuania’s mass media in terms of forming an independent perception of Russia vis-à-vis NATO, the preconditions for possible manifestations of Russia’s use of sharp power are therefore created. The article is organised into four parts. The first section sets out a theoretical framework for the analysis which focuses on the concept of sharp power. Then the research methodology is outlined. The third section presents features of the informational environment of Lithuania in 2016 and 2019. The final, and most elaborated, section investigates messages which apparently serve to support Russia’s foreign and security policy in terms of the NATO‘s topic in Lithuania’s mass media based on the aforementioned criteria.

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Nicoleta Corbu ◽  
Olga Hosu

This article seeks to expand the agenda setting theory and its later ramifications, by complementing them with the hypothesis of the articulation function of mass-media. Defined as the capacity of the media to offer people the words and expressions associated with defending specific points of view, the articulation function suggests a new ramification of the agenda setting theory, namely the key words level of agenda setting. Building on the third-level assumption about the transfer of issues and attributes from the media to people’s agenda in bundles, we argue that each issue is in fact transferred together with a set of “key words”, corresponding to the additional sub-topics related to the issue.


Author(s):  
Georg Löfflmann

The chapter explores how as President of the United States, Barack Obama was in a constant exchange with both political opponents and diverging voices within his own administration over defining America’s world political role and the purpose behind American power. The chapter describes how Obama’s strategic vision not only informed the political debate and determined policy, but also represented the central hub in an intertextual network of grand strategy discourses, providing the focus for the policy advice and criticism of Washington think tanks, the reporting and commentary of the media, and the intellectual attention of academic researchers interested in the study of US foreign and security policy. The chapter examines how Obama reconfirmed a national and bipartisan consensus, -the ideational dimension of American exceptionalism, liberal hegemony, and military supremacy-, while linking this identity to a pragmatic policy course of cooperative engagement and military restraint that large segments of the Washington establishment rejected for challenging the elite consensus on liberal hegemony.


Comunicar ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (25) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela Barba-García

Nobody questions that advertising is one of the elements of the culture of our time and it generates consumption, being the children the most sensitive objectives. Thus, once the consumption habit is created, it is quite easy to correct its direction, directing it towards the satisfaction of new needs (Martínez, 1995: 12). We try throughout this research to understand the presence of the figure of children in any advertising spot and to set some implicit values that can affect them. For it, we have divided this study in four parts. The first part puts forward the reason of selection of this project. The second part, on which our study is based: the present mediatic society. Consumption predominates in our society, and it finds its maximum apogee on TV. advertising, since the television is a mass-media that has high social power. And the children are protagonists in spots because advertising tries to consolidate the habit of consumption in the childhood (Furones, 1980: 30). In the final part, we will continue with the development of proposals of intervention to prepare people to a critical and intelligent consumption. For it, we will concentrate in five scopes: school, family, the own intervention, the media and the community. The third part of our study presents audio-visual documents, base of our research. In it, we will describe the process of research followed by the object of our study, the audio-visual documents, and we will indicate the objectives that we considered. By watching the videos, we will collect the data that will be analyze with the object of valuing its adjustment to the intentions of the research and will present the results derived from the process. And finally we will indicate the conclusions that have come up in our study along with the consequences that will take us to future potential research and all those limitations that have come up throughout the research process. Nadie pone en duda que la publicidad es uno de los elementos de la cultura de nuestro tiempo y que ella genera consumo, siendo los niños los objetivos más sensibles. Así, una vez engendrado el hábito de consumo, es bastante fácil corregir su orientación, dirigiéndolo hacia la satisfacción de nuevas necesidades (Martínez, 1995: 12). Se pretende a lo largo de este trabajo de investigación comprender la presencia de la figura del niño en cualquier spot publicitario y determinar algunos valores implícitos que le afectan. Para ello hemos dividido este estudio en cuatro partes. Una primera parte que expone el motivo de selección del pro­yecto. Una segunda parte, en la cual se fundamenta de forma global el marco en el que se integra nuestro estudio: la actual sociedad mediática. Estando en una sociedad en la que predomina el consumo, y éste encuentra su máximo apogeo a través de la publicidad televisiva, ya que la televisión es un medio de comunicación de masas que tiene un alto poder social. Y son los niños los mayores protagonistas en los spots publicitarios, porque la pu­blicidad lo que intenta es consolidar el hábito de consumo en la infancia (Furones, 1980: 30). Se continuará en la parte final de este bloque, con la elaboración de propuestas de intervención para preparar a las personas a un consumo crítico e inteligente. Para ello, nos centraremos en cinco ámbitos: la escuela, la familia, la propia intervención, los medios y los colectivos ciudadanos. Una tercera parte del estudio presenta los documentos au­diovisuales, base de nuestra investigación. En ella, se describe el proceso de investigación seguido de nuestro objeto de estudio, los documentos audiovisuales y se señalan los objetivos planteados. Con la visualización de los vídeos, se procederá a recoger los datos obtenidos de los mismos, analizados con el objeto de valorar su adecuación a los propósitos de la investigación y se presentarán los resultados derivados del proceso. Y por último, se señalarán las conclusiones que se vislumbran del estudio, junto con las implicaciones que llevarán a potenciales futuras investigaciones y todas aquellas limitaciones que nos han asaltado a lo largo del proceso investigativo.


Author(s):  
Subir Sinha

COVID-19 is the cause of the greatest pandemic of the century that affects almost every nation of our globe. In India, mass media has played a significant role in this pandemic situation. The media coverage revealed fearlessly the condition of COVID-19 and provides a pictorial view of the situation in front of the readers and viewers. The main objectives of these fearless journalistic works were to provide the public valuable authentic information, create awareness among the public, eliminate fake propaganda and fake news, highlight the problem face by the ordinary public, and to provide the government a medium to speak with the public for the public interest. Mass media served as a vital weapon to fight against COVID-19. The valuable information and instructions provided by mass media created awareness among the public and which played a major role to deescalate the graphical representation of active COVID-19 cases. The outbreak of COVID-19 and the dogmatic approaches of the mass media in the pandemic situation have recalled the concept of media as the third pillar of democracy.


1997 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-53
Author(s):  
N.S.J. Baxter

In February 1992 the Treaty of European Union was signed at Maastricht. It committed member States to new Community goals which included increasing government cooperation in the fields of foreign and security policy along with justice and home affairs (Steiner, 1994). The following “pillars” to develop the Union were identified. First of all, the protection of the rights and interests of people was strengthened by introducing citizenship of the European Union (EU); secondly a commitment was made to implement a common foreign and security policy indicated a movement towards a common defence of the Union against third party States. The third pillar seeks to facilitate the free movement of persons, while ensuring their safety and security through member States, by working closely in the areas of justice and home affairs (Benyon et al, 1993). It is this latter aspect which has implications for policing within the EU.


1992 ◽  
Vol 49 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 41-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lennart Weibull ◽  
Magnus Anshelm

In this article we analyze the development of Swedish Media since the late 1970s in terms of structure, organization and output. The article is structured in two main parts. We analyze the structure and the output of Swedish media 1980 – 1990, and then we try to understand the Swedish media development in terms of the political, economic and social tendencies of Sweden during the same period of time. Four general trends in Swedish media are identified. The first trend is the increase in the output of most mass media. Secondly, the internationalization of the media contents is analyzed. The third is the increasing localization and regionalization of the media production. The final general trend identified, is the decreasing public control, and the increasing privatization of Swedish media. These trends are finally understood in the context of changes in the Swedish society during the same period of time.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Jeřábek

The paper focuses on the decision-making process in the European Union since approval of the Treaty of Maastricht. Special consideration is dedicated to pillars two and three. The second pillar is connected with Common Foreign and Security Policy, while the third pillar contributes with Justice and Home Affairs. The first part of this paper introduces the major tools which are commonly used and describes how pillars system works. The difference between intergovernmentalism and supranationalism is also addressed. In the second part the paper deals with some important changes under the Treaty of Nice and Treaty of Lisbon. The Treaty of Lisbon will cancel the pillars system, being replaced by one legal personality for the European Union. While the former treaties were partly based on intergovernmentalism, the Treaty of Lisbon is mostly oriented on supranationalism.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan E. Cho ◽  
Jae Seung Lee ◽  
B.K. Song

AbstractThis study explores whether and how exposure to mass media affects regime support in competitive authoritarian regimes. Using geographical and temporal variation in newspaper circulation and radio signal strength in South Korea under Park Chung Hee's competitive authoritarian rule (1961–1972), we find that greater exposure to media was correlated with more opposition to the authoritarian incumbent, but only when the government's control of the media was weaker. When state control of the media was stronger, the correlation between media exposure and regime support disappeared. Through a content analysis of newspaper articles, we also demonstrate that the regime's tighter media control is indeed associated with pro-regime bias in news coverage. These findings from the South Korean case suggest that the liberalizing effect of mass media in competitive authoritarian regimes is conditional on the extent of government control over the media.


Author(s):  
V. V. Kopiika ◽  
◽  
S. О. Makovskyy ◽  

The article addresses the progress of the European integration in such fields as social, wage, insurance and fiscal policies. The author analyzes key stages of, and major factors contributing to, the advancement of policy coordination and building up common policies in the fields mentioned. The author sees the integration these spheres as a ‘third track’ of the European integration, which follows the first two ones, i.e. the economic integration and launching the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and has the potential to become the next priority direction of the European integration process. The article describes the phenomenon of the ‘third track’ of the European integration and assesses major risks and challenges that may arise in the context of the further progress of the integration effort in this field. Three scenarios of the latter bearing on its eventual implications for Europe are presented, along with a consideration of implications for Ukraine in terms of this country’s aspirations for EU membership.


2004 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunyi Cho ◽  
Miejeong Han

This study represents the first cross-cultural investigation of the third person effect hypothesis, which states that individuals overestimate mass media effect on others (Davidson, 1983). It is predicted that the difference between perceived effects of the media on self vs. other will be greater in an individualistic than collectivistic culture, because in the latter self and other are not as separate and the motivation for self-enhancement is not as salient as in the former. Survey data were collected from 671 South Korean (n=351) and U.S. (n=320) college students regarding their perceptions about the effects of beer commercials, liquor advertisements, television news about AIDS, and television news about the effects of smoking. The third person effect of undesirable media content emerged from both American and Korean samples, but the size was consistently greater among Americans compared to Koreans. Likewise, the first person effect was greater among Americans rather than Koreans.


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