BalticMedia.eu

BalticMedia.eu - marketing academic research online www.BalticMedia.eu

INTRODUCTION • BalticMedia.eu is a well structured online data base of media research in the Baltic States.

• It is an open online platform offering full-text scholarly articles, discussion papers, PPT presentations, video lectures, etc.

• The start of the project development - October, 2009.

• Project is supported by the Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas & the NordPlus Network of Journalism Schools “InterLinks10.Net”.

• Project leadership: Prof. Auksė Balčytienė, Dr. Aušra Vinciūnienė, Lina Auškalnienė, Inesa Birbilaitė, Kristijonas Jakubsonas (Department of Public Communications at VMU in Kaunas)

REASONS BEHIND THE PROJECT • Baltic countries are still Terra Incognita for many scholars outside this geographic and cultural region of Europe what concerns research in media, political communications, etc.: – Limited scholarship, limited comparative media analyses, lack of analytical studies, limited publications in other than national languages; – Lack of research papers & articles on Baltic Media open and freely available online (in English); – Lack of well-structured, up-to-date data base, which would present a rich collection of material with clear guidelines, how it could be used for research, studies, etc.

THE IDEA & CONTRIBUTIONS • BalticMedia.eu project grew out from the lectures (“Media and Democracy in the Nordic-Baltic Area of Europe”, “Journalism Cultures”, “Political Communications”, “Media Economy”, etc.) and seminars taught by media scholars and practitioners at the universities of Kaunas, Tartu and Riga since the early 1990s. The contributions were given by professors Peeter Vihalemm, Marju Lauristin, Epp Lauk, Auksė Balčytienė, Halliki Harro-Loit, etc.

– Visit for example the online platform of the course “Media & Democracy in the Baltic Region” (by Prof. A. Balčytienė, 2001/03): http://fcim.vdu.lt/e-media/md/lectures.html.

TOPICS & CONTENT • In the core of the project “BalticMedia.eu” - Baltic media change, developments and journalism cultures.

• The issues discussed here range from theoretical concepts such as media democratization, professionalization and so forth to more concrete thematic sections providing up-to-date data on media system change (convergence and concentration), media consumption and other quantitative and qualitative characteristics.

• 5 thematic sections: – – – – – –

Baltic Media Systems Democracy, (European) Public Sphere and Politics Communication Cultures and Media Comparisons Virtual Belongings (Journalism in the Era of Social Networks) Journalism Training and Professionalisation Miscellaneous

TARGET AUDIENCE

• Target audience – different groups of interested people: media and journalism students, experienced scholars and young researchers, professional journalists and editors, media policy makers, etc.

BalticMedia.eu Depatment of Public Communications Vytautas Magnus University S. Daukanto St. 28, LT-44246 Kaunas Lithuania, Europe www.BalticMedia.eu