 Life through grey-tinted glasses: how do audiences in Latvia psychologically respond to Sputnik Latvia’s destruction narratives of a failed Latvia?Aiden Hoyle, Charlotte Wagnsson, Thomas E. Powell, Helma van den Berg and Bertjan Doosje Post-Soviet Affairs, 2024, vol. 40, issue 1, 1-18 Abstract: Although concern about the effects of international audiences consuming Russian state-sponsored media has been expressed, little empirical research examines this. The current study asks how audiences in Latvia respond to narratives projected by Sputnik Latvia – a Kremlin-financed news outlet. We begin a tripartite methodological approach with an analysis of the types of narratives the outlet projects. We then test how ethnic Latvian and Russian-speaking participants in Latvia respond to destruction narratives that portray Latvia as “failing,” the most prominent type in our analysis. We use two survey experiments that test an existing hypothetical mediation model predicting an array of affective and trust responses. We find evidence that exposure to destruction narratives triggered largely similar responses in both groups; however, exploratory analyses and post-survey focus groups are used to show that their motivations may be different. We conclude by discussing potential reasons for these differences, and the ramifications of these results. Date: 2024 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rpsaxx:v:40:y:2024:i:1:p:1-18 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/1060586X.2023.2275507 Access Statistics for this article Post-Soviet Affairs is currently edited by Timothy Frye More articles in Post-Soviet Affairs from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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