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The mediatised society

The experience of this research group comes from long-term cooperation in international and national level projects. In these projects, the group’s members have defined several new research directions and become promoters of innovation in the social sciences in Latvia. Its purpose is to search for new answers to the current problems of the mediatised society, developing new research approaches, contributing to the improvement of theories and study methods, as well as offering research conclusions to media policy decision-makers, the media industry, and social partners.

Main research directions

  • mediatisation
  • journalism
  • visual communication
  • media literacy
  • media and feminism
  • press freedom
  • media regulation and self-regulation
  • mass media theories
  • media language
  • media consumption patterns of children and young people
  • AI-based media
  • audience research tools
The shifting relationship between media and society

Building on the traditions of audience research and journalism studies, the research group seeks to

  • explore the ways people today use, experience, and make sense of media and journalism;
  • examine how media institutions imagine their audiences, engage with them, and build relationships with the public at large;
  • address the implications these processes have on the self-image of journalists and the ways journalism is made.

This research focus provides new knowledge and better understanding of the shifting relationship between media and society in a time of personalised and fragmented media use, political and ideological polarisation on the part of both media and their audiences, widespread disinformation and other forms of information manipulation, declining media trust, media scepticism and cynicism, information overload, and news fatigue and avoidance.

Group members

 

Projects

The Baltic Russophone identity in flux: Political behavior, boundary making, and media practices after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Making sense of the Covid-19 crisis: information-seeking and trust-making strategies of the Baltic media audiences at the times of the coronavirus pandemic

Public media and society: attitudes, perceptions and expectations: study into audience of the Latvian Television and Latvian Radio

Worlds of Journalism Study 2021-2023: Mapping journalism’s hostile environment

Horizon 2020 projekts Mediadelcom: Finding risks and opportunities for European media landscapes

Media Pluralism Monitor

Euromedia Ownership Monitor EU 12

Worlds of Journalism Study

“Vieglās valodas veicināšana sociālai iekļaušanai” (Promoting Easy-to-Read Language for Social Inclusion – PERLSI)

Life with COVID-19: Evaluation of overcoming the coronavirus crisis in Latvia and recommendations for societal resilience in the future

Publications

2024

Rožukalne, Anda; Skulte, Ilva. 27.06.2024. Monitoring media pluralism in the digital era : application of the media pluralism monitor in the European member states and in candidate countries in 2023. Country report : Latvia: https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/77007

Rožukalne, Anda, Aija Kažoka, and Linda Siliņa. 2024. "“Are Journalists Traitors of the State, Really?”—Self-Censorship Development during the Russian–Ukrainian War: The Case of Latvian PSM" Social Sciences 13, no. 7: 350. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13070350

2023

Juzefovičs, J, 2023. "Making sense of the Covid-19 crisis: Information-seeking practices and attitudes towards information providers among Baltic audiences". Journal of Baltic Studies.
DOI: 10.1080/01629778.2023.2290603
Link: https://science.rsu.lv/en/publications/making-sense-of-the-…

Kõuts-Klemm, R., Eberwein, T., Peruško, Z., Vozab, D., Rožukalne, A., Skulte, I., & Stakle, A. 2023. "Media and Journalism Research in Small European Countries". Media and Communication, 12, Article 7205
Link: https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.7205

Vihalemm, T., Juzefovičs, J. 2023. "'They say we are all zombies’: Rethinking the role of audiences in a mediatized international conflict", Global Media and Communication. 19(1): 3–28.
Link: https://science.rsu.lv/en/publications/they-say-we-are-all-…

2022

Juzefovičs, J. 2022. "Making Sense of Public Media in Times of Geo-Political Crisis: Latvian Public Media and their Ethno-Linguistic Majority and Minority Audiences". In: Chakars, J., Ekmanis, I. eds. Information Wars in the Baltic States: Russia’s Long Shadow. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 55–79
Link: https://science.rsu.lv/en/publications/making-sense-of-publ…

Jõesaar, A., Rožukalne, A. & Jastramskis, D. 2022. "Trust in public service media in the Baltic states", Journal of Baltic Studies, 53:4, 587–611.
DOI: 10.1080/01629778.2022.21278161
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01629778.2022…

Kõuts-Klemm, R., Rožukalne, A. & Jastramskis, D. 2022. "Resilience of national media systems: Baltic media in the global network environment". Journal of Baltic Studies.
DOI: 10.1080/01629778.2022.2103162
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01629778.2022.2…

Rožukalne, A. & Liepa, D. 2022. "From 'Covid idiots' to 'Covidshow' and 'covidhysteria'. Analysis of digital news commenters verbal aggressiveness and means of linguistics creativity during Covid-19 pandemic in Latvia" (2020–2021). Media Studies, 3, 329–360

Rožukalne, A., & Kažoka, A. 2022. “It’s complicated, but we put it “simply”. Analysis of the media literacy framing in Latvian Media Support Fund projects (2018 - 2020). Comunicação Pública, 17(33)
Link: https://doi.org/10.34629/cpublica.513

Vihalemm, T., Juzefovičs, J. 2022. "Navigating Conflicts through the Media: The Sceptical and Self- Responsible Repertoires of Baltic Russian-Speakers". East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 36(2): 423–445.
Link: https://science.rsu.lv/en/publications/navigating-conflicts…

2020

Juzefovičs, J., Vihalemm, T. 2020. "Keeping channels open or screening out? The digital practices of Baltic Russian-speakers during the Russia-Ukraine conflict". Russian Journal of Communication 12(3): 262–283.
Link: https://science.rsu.lv/en/publications/keeping-channels-ope…

Rožukalne, A., Skulte, I., & Stakle, A. 2020. "Media education in the common interest: Public perceptions of media literacy policy in Latvia". Central European Journal of Communication, 13(2/26), 202–229
Link: https://doi.org/10.19195/1899-5101.13.2(26).4

2019

Vihalemm, T., Juzefovičs, J., and Leppik, M. 2019. "Identity and Media-use Strategies of the Estonian and Latvian Russian-speaking Populations Amid Political Crisis". Europe-Asia Studies 71(1): 48–70.
Link: https://science.rsu.lv/en/publications/identity-and-media-u…

2017

Juzefovičs, J. 2017. "Broadcasting and National Imagination in Post-Communist Latvia: Defining the Nation, Defining Public Television". Bristol, Chicago: Intellect.
Link: https://science.rsu.lv/en/publications/broadcasting-and-nat…

Tejkalová, N. et al. 2017. "In media we trust: Journalists and institutional trust perceptions in post-authoritarian and post-totalitarian countries". Journalism Studies 18(5): 629–644.
Link: https://science.rsu.lv/en/publications/in-media-we-trust-jo…

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