Creating Otherness: Minority Religions and Media in Lithuania
Issue: Vol 8 No. 1 (2017)
Journal: International Journal for the Study of New Religions
Subject Areas: Religious Studies
DOI: 10.1558/ijsnr.25989
Abstract:
This article contributes to the ongoing theoretical and empirical discussions within the studies of media and religion on the interaction of these social institutions in contemporary society. Firstly, we locate our research questions within the recent theoretical debates on relations between media and religion in contemporary society, the US, Western Europe and, particularly, postcommunist countries. Secondly, we discuss the representations of minority religions in Lithuanian media grounding on the empirical research of Lithuanian media in 2000-2012. Results of the empirical research showed that minority religions in Lithuanian media were represented mostly in a negative and scandalous context. The majority of articles contained various rhetorical strategies which strengthened the proposed viewpoints. Opinions of the members of minority religions, experts and society were the most common information source dealt with in the analysed articles.
Author: Gintarė Pocė, Milda Ališauskienė
References :
Ališauskienė, M. and J. Bučaitė-Vilkė, ed.
2014. Religinių mažumų lygių galimybių užtikrinimas Lietuvoje: problemos ir rekomendacijos [The Assurance of Equal Opportunities for Minority Religions in Lithuania]. Vilnius: Naujųjų religijų tyrimų ir informacijos centras.
Ališauskienė, M. and D. Glodenis.
2013. Iššūkiai religinei įvairovei Lietuvoje: religinių mažumų perspektyva (Challenges for Religious Diversity in Lithuania]. Vilnius: Naujųjų religijų tyrimų ir informacijos centras.
Ališauskienė, M. and J. Kuznecovienė, ed.
2013. Religija ir visuomenė. teorinės įžvalgos ir kasdienybės praktikos: straipsnių rinkinys. [Religion and Society: Theoretical insights and everyday life practice: Collection of articles]. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University.
Ališauskienė, M. and I. Samuilova.
2011. “Modernizacija ir religija sovietinėje ir posovietinėje Lietuvoje.” [Modernization and Religion in Soviet and Post-soviet Lithuania]. Kultūra ir visuomenė. 2(3): 67–81. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University.
Altheide, D. L.
1985. Media Power. Sage: USA
Barker, E.
1995. “The scientific study of religion? You must be joking!” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 34: 287–310. https://doi.org/10.2307/1386880
1997. “But who is going to win? National and minority religions in post-communist society.” In New Religious Phenomena in Central and Eastern Europe, edited by I. Borowik and G. Babinski, 25–62. Krakow: Nomos.
2001. “The media and the new religiosity: comments.” In Religion and the Right in Civil Society: International Conference. Vilnius: Stanford University Press. http://tm.infolex.lt/religija/5.htm
Bauman, Z.
1991. Modernity and Ambivalence. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Beckford, J. A.
1994. “The mass media and new religious movements.” In From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco, edited by J. R. Lewis, 143–148. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
2003. Social Theory and Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520754
Borowik, I.
2007. “The religious landscape of central and eastern Europe after communism.” In The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by James A. Beckford and N. J. Demerath, 654–669. London: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781848607965.n32
Croutie, D., W. Hoynes and S. Milan.
2012. Media/Society. Industries, Images, and Audience. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Fairclough, N.
1990. Language and Power. London: Longman.
Fürsich, E.
2010. “Media and the representation of other.” International Social Science Journal 61(199): 113–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2451.2010.01751.x
Greer, Ch. and Y. Jewkes.
2005. “Extremes of otherness: Media images of social exclusion.” Social Justice 32(1): 20–31.
Hall, S.
1997. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Keyton, J.
2006. Communication Research: Asking Questions, Finding Answers. 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hjarvard, S.
2008. “The mediatization of religion: A theory of the media as agents of religious change.” Northern Lights 6: 9–26. Bristol: Intellect Press. https://doi.org/10.1386/nl.6.1.9_1
2013. The Mediatization of Culture and Society. London: Routlege.
2012. “Three forms of mediatized religion: Changing the public face of religion.” In Mediatization and Religion: Nordic Perspectives. Hjarvard, S. and Lövheim, M. (eds.) Sweden: Nordicom.
Hodkinson, P.
2011. Media, Culture and Society. An Introduction. UK: Sage.
Hoover, S. M.
2011. “Religion and media.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion, edited by P. B. Clarke. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hoover, S. M. and L. S. Clark.
2002. Practising Religion in the Age of Media. NY: Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.7312/hoov12088
Knott, K., E. Poole and T. Taira.
2013. Media Portrayals of Religion and the Secular Sacred: Representation and Change. Farnham: Ashgate.
Kuhn, A.
1997. “The body and cinema: Some problems for feminism.” In Writing on the Body: Female Embodiment and Feminist Theory, edited by K. Conboy, N. Medina and Sarah Stanbury, 195–207. New York: Columbia University Press.
Lind, R. A.
2004. “Laying a foundation for studying race, gender, and the media.” In Race/Gender/Media: Considering Diversity across Audiences, Content and Producers. Boston, MA: Pearson.
McQuail, D.
2005. McQuails Mass Communication Theory. London: SAGE.
Mitchell, J.
2012. “Religion and the news: Stories, context, journalists and audiences.” In Religion and the News, edited by J. Mitchell and O. Gower, 7–30. Farnham: Ashgate.
Okolie, C. A.
2003. “Introduction to the special issue—identity: Now you don’t see it; now you do.” Identity 3(1): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532706XID0301_01
Richardson, J. E.
2007. Analysing Newspapers: An Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-20968-8
Richardson, J. and B. van Driel.
1997. “Journalists’ attitudes toward new religious movements.” Review of Religious Research 39(2): 116. https://doi.org/10.2307/3512177
Schröder, I. W.
2012. “The elusive religious field in Lithuania.” In Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Society: Ethnographies of Catholic Hegemony and the New Pluralism in Lithuania. edited by M. Ališauskienė and I. W. Schröder, 79–98 Farnham: Ashgate.
Schudson, M.
2003. The Sociology of News. USA: W. W. Norton.
Silverstone, R.
2007. Media and Morality. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Sprindžiūnas, A., M. Ališauskienė, D. Glodenis, V. Mackela, A. Matijošius and R. Pranskevičiūtė.
2007. Diskriminacija dėl religijos ir įsitikinimų Lietuvoje. (Discrimination on Religion and Beliefs in Lithuania. Report of Sociological Research). Vilnius: Naujųjų religijų tyrimų ir informacijos centras. http://www.lygybe.lt/?pageid=10&id=66
Streikus, A.
2012. “The history of religion in Lithuania since the nineteenth century.” In Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Society: Ethnographies of Catholic Hegemony and the New Pluralism in Lithuania, edited by Milda Ališauskienė and Ingo W. Schröder, 37–56. Farnham: Ashgate
Sullivan, J. L.
2013. Media Audiences: Effects, Users, Institutions, and Power. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Tereškinas, A.
2004. “Konfliktinė hegemonija. Žiniasklaida ir moterys Lietuvoje ir Europos Sąjungoje.” (Conflicted Hegemony: Media and Women in Lithuania and European Union). In Sociologija. Mintis ir veiksmas. Vilnius, Klaipėda: Vilnius University, Klaipėda University.
Tuckman, G.
1978. Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality. New York: Free Press.
Valle, C. A.
1992. “Religion in the media.” World Association for Christian Communication. http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=273
Webster, J. G.
1998. “The audience.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 42(2): 190–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838159809364443
Statistical sources
Lietuvos statistikos departamentas (Statistics Lithuania)
2013. Lietuvos Respublikos 2011 metų gyventojų ir būstų surašymo rezultatai (Results of the 2011 Population and Housing Census of the Republic of Lithuania). Vilnius: Lietuvos statistikos departamentas. https://osp.stat.gov.lt/documents/10180/217110/Lietuvos_gyventojai_2011.pdf
TNS Gallup
2013a. TNS Gallup Dienraščių skaitomumo tyrimas. (Print Media Research). http://www.tns.lt/lt/news/tns-lt-populiariausiu-2013-m-pavasario-periodo-leidiniu-penketukai/
2013b. TNS Gallup Internetinių naujienų portalų lankomumo tyrimas. (Online Media Research). http://www.tns.lt/lt/top/paslaugos/ziniasklaidos-auditoriju-tyrimai/tns-metrix%E2%84%A2/?sort=nwor/