On 18 February 2015, ICDS held a roundtable discussion with the title ‘Development of Russian-language media in Estonia – a matter of national security?’
The aim of the roundtable—which was the first to be held this year in Russian—was to discuss whether the active presence of Russian media in Estonia should be viewed in the context of national security.
The roundtable was opened by ICDS junior research fellow Anna Bulakh and began with a presentation from leading Estonian sociologist, Juhan Kivirähk, who shared the results of scientific surveys of the level of trust in Estonian and Russian media respectively among Russian speakers.
Janek Luts, development director for ERR’s future Russian-language channel, focused on the directions of the new media source, which will be launched in September 2015.
ICDS research assistant Kristina Potapova stressed the importance of independent media sources for a modern democratic state.
Pavel Marozau, co-founder of the online broadcaster aru.tv, explained the aims of his new channel; he also discussed the media space in Belarus.
ICDS research fellows Tomas Jermalavičius and Maksym Bugriy shared their expertise on the media space in Lithuania and Ukraine and discussed what lessons could be learnt from these countries.
These remarks were followed by a lively discussion among the assembled participants—who included media experts, researchers, journalists, academics, and others.
The event received extensive media coverage in Estonian and Russian:
http://www.postimees.ee/3096321/umarlaud-vene-propaganda-vastu-voitlemise-asemel-tuleb-pakkuda-alternatiivi http://rus.postimees.ee/3096751/smi-agenty-nacionalnoj-bezopasnosti http://heli.er.ee/helid/klassika/1956804.mp3 http://rus.err.ee/v/ak/bfb3449e-ed5f-4e5f-bf1e-f3caf98ecaa5 http://rus.delfi.ee/daily/estonia/foto-my-negativno-otnosimsya-k-rossijskoj-propagande-potomu-chto-tam-chasto-ispolzuetsya-nepodtverzhdennaya-informaciya?id=70824243