Changing Media in a Changing Society

Demokratizatsiya, Fall 2003 by Vihalemm, Peeter

Increased use of new media technologies contributed to the further fragmentation of the audience, but it also stimulated political debate. Online comments concerning political news, online EU debate, and online polls on hot topics brought young people who were not eager to participate in elections into the political field. This new media environment inspired politicians to supply active information about the parties and government institutions via Web sites. The Law on Public Information in 2000 made a significant contribution to the development of an electronic public sphere. According to this law, all public institutions were obliged to publicize all relevant information about forthcoming legislative acts and other decisions, information about the usage of public funds, and so forth on their Web sites.

Growing commercialization increased tensions between the media and politicians, stimulating the media to draw grim pictures of politics in general. A spiral of cynicism (Cappella and Jamieson 1997) created fruitful soil for general disillusionment. Complaints in the media about alienation between politicians and ordinary people helped to create a vicious circle of public mistrust. At the end of the day, the media, which actively had diminished trust in politics and politicians, became trapped by the growing cynicism of the public. Public opinion polls indicated that trust in the media had fallen sharply (see table 2).

Fourth Stage: New Challenges

In Estonian society the beginning of the new millennium was characterized by intense preparations for EU accession and integration with NATO. In the summer and fall 2000 these developments were fused with a sharp decline in public support of political institutions.

The newly elected center-right coalition government launched reforms in several areas: administration, health care, pension system, and higher education. The last and biggest privatization projects, involving energy plants and railways, also were planned to take place during the same period. These projects were met with outrage and public criticism. Given the growing income inequality and remarkable unemployment, the majority of ordinary people expected the government not to speed up new reforms, but to find measures that could increase everyday security and stability.

On the other side, Estonian business circles were also dissatisfied with the way the government acted. In particular, influential domestic entrepreneurs, including owners of the media companies, did not support any more privatization through international open bids, which had been one engine of rapid marketization in the 1990s. The new economic elite of Estonia now felt strong enough to compete for leading positions in the domestic economic scene and started a public campaign against selling out the country's strategic resources to foreigners. One indicator of the growing economic potential of the Estonian elite can be seen in the change in media ownership in fall 2001. Estonian media mogul Hans H. Luik became the sole owner of one of the two dominating media companies, Ekspress Grupp, buying out all shares that were held by the Swedish Bonnier Group.