Framing Nuclearity: Online Media Discourses in Lithuania

Media and Communication

article

Natalija Mažeikienė¹  Judita Kasperiūnienė²  Ilona Tandzegolskienė³ 

[1]Faculty of Social Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University

[2]Faculty of Informatics, Vytautas Magnus University

[3]Academy of Education, Vytautas Magnus University

关键词: Astravyets nuclear power plant;    Chernobyl;    framing theory;    Ignalina nuclear power plant;    nuclear culture;    nuclear imagery;    nuclear media discourses;    nuclearity;    Visaginas;   

DOI  :  10.17645/mac.v9i2.3818

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Cogitatio Press

【 摘 要 】

This article refers to the concept of nuclearity as a broader technopolitical phenomenon that implies a political and culturalconfiguration of technical and scientific matters. The nuclear media discourses become a site of tensions, struggles, andpower relations between various institutions, social groups, and agents who seek to frame nuclear issues. The Bourdieusianconcept of a field as a domain of social interaction is employed by the authors of this article seeking to reveal interactionsand power configurations within and between several fields: journalism and media, economy, politics, and cultural production fields (cinematography, literature, and art). Commercial and political pressures on media raise a question aboutthe autonomy of this field. Media coverage of nuclear issues in Lithuania during the period 2018–2020, includes mediaframing produced by different sponsors of the nuclear media discourses and agents from the above-mentioned fields ofjournalism, nuclear industry, politics, cinematography or arts. The media coverage includes the news and press releasesproduced within PR and public communication of the atomic energy industry by representing the decommissioning of theIgnalina Nuclear Power Plant, articles written by journalists about the atomic city Visaginas, and challenges faced by thelocal community due to the closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. The nuclear discourse includes debates by politicians around the topic of the lack of safety of the construction of the Astravyets Nuclear Power Plant in Belarus, and mediacoverage of the HBO series Chernobyl representing a strong antinuclear narrative by portraying the Chernobyl disastercrisis and expressing strong criticism of communism. The authors of this article carried out a qualitative content analysis ofmedia coverage on nuclear issues and revealed features of the discourse: interpretative packages, frames, framing devices(Gamson & Modigliani, 1989), and dominating actors and institutions supporting the discourse.

【 授权许可】

CC BY