For two months now Russian speakers in Estonia have been able to receive programming from the new TV channel, ETV+, produced in Russian by Estonian Public Broadcasting.
A study conducted by the International Centre for Defence and Security Studies based on 44 interviews in the four towns of Tallinn, Narva, Valga, Kiviõli and Kohtla-Järve was meant to examine how information received on a daily basis influence attitudes towards their country of residence and country of origin.
Estonia has some 300,000 non-Estonians, of which 129,000 have either Estonian or some other European Union citizenship, 91,000 have Russian, and 80,000 have undefined citizenship (usually labelled as stateless), a group that is gradually decreasing.
How non-Estonians would respond to information received from Russian media channels is difficult to predict. The non-Estonian section of society is not homogenous, so expections of actual help from Russia are not uniform within the group. Opinions, understanding and expectations vary according to someone’s origin, age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, level of integration and one’s specific place of residence. Extensive studies have clearly identified those differences and that political and econmic inequality between ethnic groups has increased. (Pikemalt Eesti Elu 4.dets. paberlehest)
