| Abstract [eng] |
The aim of this article is to reveal the general tendencies of representation and images of ethnic minorities and refugees in Lithuanian media (the most popular Internet dailies and printed periodicals) and who are the main sources of the discourse about these groups. The article present the analysis of the data of several empirical researches of the Lithuanian media (articles published in the most popular Internet news dailies and periodicals) in the period from 2005 to 2017. Data analysis reveal that the image of ethnic minorities in the media is steady and, despite the changing news, they are portrayed using certain schemes that do not change over the years. The migrants in the Lithuanian media is presented by a thematic diversity which is conditioned by the broad concept of migrants, which include refugees, third-country nationals, labor migrants, asylum seekers, etc. Polish and Russian ethnic groups are politicized when the majority of Poles living in Lithuania are identified with the political party EAPL, and Russians are identified with the policy pursued by the Russian Federation. The Roma, although statistically a small ethnic group, receive a disproportionate and negative attention in the Lithuanian press, and it is criminalized. Because of the absence of a large number of immigrants and refugees in Lithuania, the articles use examples from EU countries which have more experience of integration of immigrants. The representatives of the majority society institutes, but not the minority, are the main opinion formers about ethnic minorities and interethnic relations in Lithuanian media. Therefore, it is recommended for the media to increase society's intercultural competences and reduce social distance towards ethnic minorities and refugees, as well as to provide more diverse information and to launch a debate on cultural and religious differences. |
