One Country, Two Information Fields: Estonia as the Battleground for the Information War International conference “Interaction of Media and Politics in the BalticStates” Vilnius University: 8-9 May 2015 Dr. Andres Jõesaar Estonian Public Broadcasting Tallinn University

Media influencers Socio-cultural McQuail 2010 + AJ All over the world, all media institutions are influenced by economics, politics and technology. Social, political, economic and cultural changes in the past twenty five years have dramatically reshaped Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). As these societies have changed, so also has the media, including broadcasting, now powered by fast technological development, and is unrecognizable from the period of the communist regime. The scale and scope of the transition to democratic society and open or liberal market economy was somewhat extraordinary. Of course the fast change in media is not only a phenomena of CEE countries. Media in the whole world is in a continuous process of change. The changes in (media) politics, IT-revolution, switch-over from analog broadcasting to a digital one, convergence, globalization and commercialization have designed a new media paradigm. McQuail 2010 + AJ

The areas and effects of the new communications policy Economic Political Social-cultural Main goal – Public interest Economic Welfare Social Welfare Political Welfare New communications policy Freedom Access Diversity Information Control Responsibility Assortment Identity Participation Quality Coherence Competition Development Employment rate Consumerism Innovation Domains and Values/Criteria The areas and effects of the new communication policy paradigm as described by Van Cuilenburg and McQuail (2003) indicate that for serving the main goal – “public interest”– all political, social-cultural and economic values should be balanced The combination of three new communication policy areas with three influences on media institutions gives the research basis. PSB as a media institution is influenced by Economics, Politics and Technology and it must serve Public Interest. Adding a social-cultural dimension to McQuail’s media influencers list, this research examines development of the media system at the EU and national governance levels from four aspects: Social-cultural, Economical, Political, Technological. Van Cuilenburg and McQuail 2003: 184 chart 4

Estonian media landscape TV LANDSCAPE Estonian media landscape 27 March 2014 Tallinn

Estonia Total population 1,3 million ¾ Estonians ¼ non-Estonians referred also as Russian speakers ¾ Estonians Total advertising market 87 million €

TV channels available Total number 347 Broadcasting in Russian 103 Broadcasting in Estonian 26 National TV license holders 17 Free-to-Air* 5 Public Service Broadcasting 2 Commercial channels 2 Municipal TV [Party controlled] 1 ________________________ *All broadcast in Estonian Source: Mavise

Average weekly share of viewing in Estonia in 2014 Average weekly share of viewing in Estonia in 2014. Age group 4+, Estonians and non-Estonians Source: TNS Emor

Current events and different sources of information Background of the study 29 July – 5 August 2014 Telephone interviews with 1000 people aged 15-74 505 Estonians 495 non-Estonians The proportional random sampling Interviews in Estonian and Russian Link to the full report Research company: Saar Poll Commissioned by the Open Estonian Foundation

How frequently do you follow the news about current events?

Importance of the media channels

Types of media worlds among non-Estonians

Type 1. Follows traditional Russian media (27%) Russian TV channels (PBK, RTR) – 79% PSB Radio in Russian – 54%

Type 3. Follows Russian TV and news sites, and news sites from around the world (26%) Type 4. Diverse follower of media in multiple languages (19%)

Type 4. Diverse follower of media in multiple languages (19%) Type 3. Follows Russian TV and news sites, and news sites from around the world (26%) Estonian news portals in Russian – 77% Other news channels and sites from around the world (CNN, BBC, Euronews) – 70,1% Russian TV channels (PBK, RTR) – 69,6% Russian news portals – 68% Type 4. Diverse follower of media in multiple languages (19%) Russian TV channels (PBK, RTR) – 90% Estonian news portals in Russian – 88% Russian news portals – 75% PSB Radio in Russian – 72%

Type 2. Diverse follower of Russian language media (16%) Type 5 Type 2. Diverse follower of Russian language media (16%) Type 5. Follows Estonian language media (14%)

Type 2. Diverse follower of Russian language media (16%) Estonian news portals in Russian (Delfi, Postimees) – 91 % Social networks Odnaklassniki, Vkontakte – 88% Social networks Facebook, YouTube, Twitter – 84% Russian TV channels(PBK, RTR) – 73% Type 5. Follows Estonian language media (14%) Estonian Television (ETV, ETV2) – 78% Estonian news portals in Russian (Postimees, Delfi) – 50%

Language skills, country of birth, citizenship Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Type 4 Type 5 Understands Estonian language well 27% 30% 42% 48% 75% Don’t understand Estonian (well) 28% 23% 19% 12% 10% Born in Estonia Yes 48% 73% 67% 61% 79% No 52% 27% 33% 39% 21%

Did you follow the song and dance festival?

Main sources for obtaining information about the song and dance festival

Main sources for obtaining information about the EP

What is the most important topic or event you can recall?

How often did you follow news about events in Ukraine?

Main sources for obtaining information about events in Ukraine

Who is responsible for shooting down the Malaysian airplane?

N=non-Estonians Ukraine government Russian government

Conclusions The Audiovisual Media Services Directive should be revised to prevent unfair competition that stems from third countries Tools should be developed to avoid undue media concentration and to compensate for market failures there should be EU legal instruments to ensure that PSBs are not underfunded.

Conclusion 2 Fulfillment of the European works quota of the channels licensed in the EU member states should be monitored TV-channels not meeting the quota requirement should be forced to change their policy or their license should be repealed

AVMSD definition of European works ‘European works’ means the following: works originating in Member States; works originating in European third States party to the European Convention on Transfrontier Television of the Council of Europe and fulfilling the conditions of paragraph 3; works co-produced within the framework of agreements related to the audiovisual sector concluded between the Union and third countries and fulfilling the conditions defined in each of those agreements.

Russian Federation signed the European Convention on Transfrontier Television of the Council of Europe on 4/10/2006, but it has never ratified it and the convention has not entered into force in Russia.

Most popular Russian TV channels Majority of programs (re-)broadcasted on most popular Russian TV channel is Russian origin Most popular Russian TV channels PBK Latvia NTV Mir Baltic Ren TV Baltic Ren TV Estonia Ren TV Lietuva

Contact: andres.joesaar@err.ee Thank you! Contact: andres.joesaar@err.ee