Russian media has devoted significant attention to Latvia, much of it negative. Why has Latvia evoked such animosity? To what extent are the Russian media responsible for manufacturing an enemy image of Latvia?

The Advanced Social and Political Research Institute at the University of Latvia assembled a team of young scholars from the departments of political science and communication studies to analyse the media materials. The methodologies used by the authors are broadly the same, combining elements of discourse analysis, sociology, and political analysis. As a first step towards making sense of the vast amount of empirical material in the data base, the team reviewed the evolution of topics concerning Latvia, and found that the materials could be divided into a number of categories: the situation of Russians, controversies over history, Latvian (in both the ethnic and territorial sense) culture and Russian culture in Latvia, Latvia’s accession to the EU and NATO, and issues pertaining to the economy, including energy relations. However, in order to understand media portrayal of these topics during the period in review, some background analysis was necessary.

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