How Baltic Russian-speaking audiences outmaneuver securitization, essentialization, and polarization in times of crisis?

• Published in: Journal of Baltic studies Vol. 53; no. 4; pp. 495 - 517
• Main Authors: Vihalemm, Triin, Juzefovičs, Jānis
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 02-10-2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Audiences; baltic russian speakers; local integration; media use; National security; Polarization; Securitization; Transnational; Transnationalism
• ISSN: 0162-9778; 1751-7877
• DOI: 10.1080/01629778.2021.2006728

This article addresses transnational media use of Baltic Russian-speaking audiences that is often problematized in the public discourse as an inhibiting factor of their local integration and a threat to the national security of Estonian and Latvian societies. The authors operationalize a theoretical model of synergistic and antagonistic relationship between transnationalism and local integration drawing on the media use of Baltic Russian speakers. The findings suggest that the synergy between transnationalism and local integration is protected against discursive suppression via mundane balancing acts. Furthermore, the securitization of transnational media practices of the Russian-speaking population may not always lead to the rise of diasporic identities as reported in earlier studies.