Mediation of Social Policy Changes in the Local Press: Case of Lithuania, 2012

Mediation of Social Policy Changes in the Local Press: Case of Lithuania, 2012. Džina Donauskaitė Vilnius University, Faculty of Communication, Institute of Journalism [email protected]

Abstract This paper examines role of local media in social policy decentralization in Lithuania which started in the period of economic crisis when complex of austerity measures and spending cuts has been introduced. In the 1st of January 2012 a new law on cash social assistance for poor residents has been launched. The Law provided legal basis for transferring state’s functions of cash social assistance redistribution to municipalities as well as additional municipal functions of controlling cash social assistance in five pilot municipalities (Akmenė, Panevėžys, Radviliškis, Raseiniai and Šilalė). The Law also introduced a principle of workfare and created incentives for pilot municipalities to make further spending cuts by reducing number of receivers of social benefits. In this context media as an important mediator of political process also faced significant change. The shift of political power from center to periphery marked growing importance of local media to act as a reform watchdog. In addition, given the fact that biggest numbers of poor live in rural areas, local media’s attention to the issue is expected to be high. Thus the question of how local newspapers reflected social policy changes and the state of poverty in the pilot regions have guided the study. To interpret results from empirical analysis of local press, a theoretical approach of normative media roles in democratic societies by Christians, Glasser, McQuail, Nordenstreng and White (2009) has been enabled. According to authors, the press can take monitorial, facilitative, radical or collaborative roles that are often mixed in practice. To find out which one and to what extent dominated the coverage of social policy reform which affected people with lowest incomes was the main goal of the study. The preliminary results show media in general acted collaboratively towards social policy decentralization and reduction in number of people receiving cash social assistance. It provided publics with role and anti-role models by depicting people who either voluntarily refuses cash social assistance or abuse social provision system. The local press also fulfilled its facilitative role by offering providers of social services, aid groups and community houses to communicate extensively using their platform. However it should be noted that even though the attention for the groups which tend to be at risk of poverty and their facilitators was high, the local press chose to depict leisure activities rather than living conditions of the poor. As to monitorial role, the local press tended be selective and did not use sources that did not line with their political preferences. The radical role which is considered to be main precondition for intellectual disputes, political revivals and change has been missing from the local press. Therefore this paper offers conclusion that local and community press in five pilot municipalities has not been prepared for professional mediation of social policy changes that have been enforced by the government in the period of economic crisis.

Keywords: local media, social policy, poverty, crisis, recession.

References Christians, G.Ch., Glasser, Th.L., McQuail, D., Nordenstrend, K., White, R.A. Normative Theories of the Media. Journalism in Democratic Societies. – University of Illinois Press, 2009.