Ways of self-positioning through the reception
of news among Estonian Russian-speakers
Marianne Leppik
University of Tartu

Hypothesis: migrants are transnational
§ Transmigrant´s daily lives depend on multiple and
constant interconnections across international
borders and their public identities are configured
in relationship to more than one nation-state
(Glick-Schiller et al 1994)
§ Living in two realities at the same time
§ Actors exposed to a set of social expectations,
norms and values and patterns of human
interaction that are shaped by more than one
social, economic, and political system (Levitt
2011)
§ Guarnizo (2000, 2003) distinguishes core and
expanded transnational practices
§ New (imaginable) diaspora? Hybridization?

Subject of the study
§ Empircalcase: Russian speaking people with migrant background in
Estonia who form one third part of Estonia´s population - internally
heterogenous group
§ Varied political will and skills to integrate them
§ structural separation of two communities as a legacy from the
Soviet system
§ High linguistic, as well cultural and psychological barriers
§ Estonian Russian-speakers participate in the various mediascapes:
Russian TV, local Estonian and Russian language portals, press, radio,
social networks, global TV ja news portals
§ Ad-hoc information gathering

§ Average time spent by watching
TV in October 2016 was 3,41 h
§ Main channels: PBK, RTR
Planeta, NTV Mir (TNS Emor)
§ More diverse media use: 49%
followregularlyInternational
media (compared 25% within
native Estonians)(EIA 2017)
§ 72% use social networks (MMM
2014)
§Media use is widening in space
and thickening in time: media
content is shaped by social networks
and communication partners and
members of thematic communities

Purpose
§ Analyse the interactions between ways of
interpretation of political and economic journalistic
production and peoples’ self-positioning in times of
acceleration of political crisis:
§ How the topical news are received and interpreted?
§ How the ways of local embeddedness contribute into the
interpretative practices and vice versa, how the
involvement into the mediated conflict may shape the
patterns of social, political and cultural involvement and
identity?

Data
§ Focus groups with Russian-speakers in Estonia (I, II and III
generation immigrants)
§ Interviews, blog article, analytical stories
§ 3-4 longer texts (balanced)
§ 1 short (selection ot of 8)
§ Method: text/discourse analysis

Different use of „we“
§ We in broader sense:
§ It is important to me (Ukrainian crisis), because it is close to
us, it may affect us…we all are slavic people (W, 26)
§ I totally agree…above all, we all are brothers (M, 18)
§ We here, in Estonia (as non-Estonians?)
§ We have this quiet state here and then something like this
happen (M, 31, talking about school shooting)
§ In our country there are many good teachers and
specialists (M, 18)
§ We are still aliens here…why are you calling us freaks (M,
31)

Media content interpretation is affected by
Russian normalities
§ Talking about Crimea:
§ Moreover, they wanted to join the Russia (M, 31)
§ Like Boris Yeltsin gave away…gambled away (M,28)
§ That´s a shame (M, 31)
§ Russian reception frame:
§ Yes, our friend Sergei Petrov knows how and who organized
the protests (M, 31)
§ He is one of the richest men in Russia. Where did he get all
his money? It is clear, that he stole it! (M, 54)

Democratic point of view: operating within
EU/international legal system
§ Why such a drastic reaction that Arabs cannot live in Europe any more, I
mean, you let them in. And we have to shut down the mosques. It does not
seem democratic to me….Why some churches are closed and some not? It
does not correspond to the EU standards (M, 18)
§ What I really liked about this article and what I didn´t know before, was
related to Russian international obligations in relation to Ukraine. So if
Russia says in international level that he won´t touch Ukrainian borders,
then he shouldn´t (M, 18)
§ Yesterday I read that Ukraine might ask for peacekeepers from EU and
United Nations. I appreciate this initiative. If it helps to stop the crisis and all
parties agree, and it doesn´t break a Minsk agreement, then it is a good
initiative (M, 38)

Experience with Western civic and media
culture shapes the interpretation
§ But in Russia, there is such a culture if you don´t think so or
similarly, then you aren´t patriot. If you don´t agree, it´s a bad
sign (M, 25)
§ Well Russian media has a government´s support. They
cannot be adequate or independent. You cannot expect
independence when the government pays the salary…(M, 18)
§ It seems this article is written to Russian reader to concvince
him that Putin is (almost) god, who does everything correctly
(M, 18)

Postitioning non-conventional:
Lavrov at Munich Security Conference
§ Not laughing at the high level meetings as
convention
§ I do not think that such an important meeting policy
and so would laugh. Serious people, they could
somehow respond differently, not a laugh (W, 26)
§ Speaking truth as convention
§ My personal opinion is that probably there are Russian
troops in Ukraine ... I, too smile when I hear how
Lavrov tries earnestly and with an honest view say that
the Russian troops are not there (M, 37)

Change of positions
§ I have Estonian passport, but I feel closer to other nations
who live here...and this Slavic element is affecting
development of culture, science and so on. Lets take for
example our Ida-Virumaa. (M, 31)
§ It is cut like this to show Lavrov in bad light...it´s not very
good joke from those who made it...politics are also people,
they can laugh...what I meant to say, is that Lavrov cannot lie,
he´s really bad in this, but he seriously tries (M,38)

Conclusions
§ Transnational reality
§ Conscious position
§ Change of positions is quick and refers to hybridity
§ Identity is transforming, is multicultural and negotiable
on everyday basis
§ Interpretationoriginate from Western and Russian
normalities: broad concepts
§ Cosmopolitalism?

Thank you for the attention!