Suchergebnisse

Civil society is a necessity without which democracy can turn into political technocracy. The neoliberal ideology faces new challenges forcing a rethink underlying the individual and the state and free media and its activity and specificity. We encounter a vivid problem when a group of people who own the media resources have all the tools to shape the public opinion according to their demands. Public commentators become the subjects of public opinion when they analyze the current events. The discourse which is created by these people has suggestibility, subjectivism and ideological style thus creating and having influence on the public opinion. This factor led to more closely analyze the Lithuanian media commentators public discourse in the context of civil initiatives and to evaluate the influence of the discourse of civil society development, based on the principles of liberal democracy. The object of this work is Lithuanian news agencies "Delfi.lt", "15min", "Lrytas.lt", and "lrt.lt" commentator's publications related to the mass initiatives of "supermarket boycott" and "protests against the new Labour Code" which both happened in 2016. The paper examines discreditation of civil initiatives, as one of the attributes of a liberal democracy, in the public space. In order to examine the problem, there are 5 tasks to fallow: (1) to discuss the main features of the collective activities of liberal democracy; (2) to assess the media as a political tool of communication to the public knowledge; (3) to disclosure the selected social initiatives characteristics; (4) to perform selected media portals public commentators publications qualitative discourse analysis, highlighting the main findings; (5) to assess the dominant media portals statements by liberal democratic criteria and assessing the significance of the discourse for civil society. The qualitative discourse analysis method was used for the analyzed problem. A structured interview was also used as a method which helped to disclose and assess the positions of the online media commentators for the relevant civil initiatives. The research revealed that the initiative "supermarket boycott" attempted not only to use its collective action resources to change the market prices but to have solidarity with the most vulnerable social groups as well. Meanwhile the protesters against the new Labour Code were holding a position against the bill thus creating resonance within the society and contributing to the growth of the protest culture in Lithuania. The discourse of the public commentators in the public space assessing the civil and social initiatives opposes the liberal democracy principals where free people meetings (freedom of association) are one of the core ideas of liberal democracy. While having the resources to construct the public opinion, the public commenter's limit the possibilities for other opposing doctrines to appear and act - allowing us to make a conclusion that pluralism is not appreciated. The dominant discourse implies ideas about negative consequences for the liberal and civil society's development.

Civil society is a necessity without which democracy can turn into political technocracy. The neoliberal ideology faces new challenges forcing a rethink underlying the individual and the state and free media and its activity and specificity. We encounter a vivid problem when a group of people who own the media resources have all the tools to shape the public opinion according to their demands. Public commentators become the subjects of public opinion when they analyze the current events. The discourse which is created by these people has suggestibility, subjectivism and ideological style thus creating and having influence on the public opinion. This factor led to more closely analyze the Lithuanian media commentators public discourse in the context of civil initiatives and to evaluate the influence of the discourse of civil society development, based on the principles of liberal democracy. The object of this work is Lithuanian news agencies "Delfi.lt", "15min", "Lrytas.lt", and "lrt.lt" commentator's publications related to the mass initiatives of "supermarket boycott" and "protests against the new Labour Code" which both happened in 2016. The paper examines discreditation of civil initiatives, as one of the attributes of a liberal democracy, in the public space. In order to examine the problem, there are 5 tasks to fallow: (1) to discuss the main features of the collective activities of liberal democracy; (2) to assess the media as a political tool of communication to the public knowledge; (3) to disclosure the selected social initiatives characteristics; (4) to perform selected media portals public commentators publications qualitative discourse analysis, highlighting the main findings; (5) to assess the dominant media portals statements by liberal democratic criteria and assessing the significance of the discourse for civil society. The qualitative discourse analysis method was used for the analyzed problem. A structured interview was also used as a method which helped to disclose and assess the positions of the online media commentators for the relevant civil initiatives. The research revealed that the initiative "supermarket boycott" attempted not only to use its collective action resources to change the market prices but to have solidarity with the most vulnerable social groups as well. Meanwhile the protesters against the new Labour Code were holding a position against the bill thus creating resonance within the society and contributing to the growth of the protest culture in Lithuania. The discourse of the public commentators in the public space assessing the civil and social initiatives opposes the liberal democracy principals where free people meetings (freedom of association) are one of the core ideas of liberal democracy. While having the resources to construct the public opinion, the public commenter's limit the possibilities for other opposing doctrines to appear and act - allowing us to make a conclusion that pluralism is not appreciated. The dominant discourse implies ideas about negative consequences for the liberal and civil society's development.

Civil society is a necessity without which democracy can turn into political technocracy. The neoliberal ideology faces new challenges forcing a rethink underlying the individual and the state and free media and its activity and specificity. We encounter a vivid problem when a group of people who own the media resources have all the tools to shape the public opinion according to their demands. Public commentators become the subjects of public opinion when they analyze the current events. The discourse which is created by these people has suggestibility, subjectivism and ideological style thus creating and having influence on the public opinion. This factor led to more closely analyze the Lithuanian media commentators public discourse in the context of civil initiatives and to evaluate the influence of the discourse of civil society development, based on the principles of liberal democracy. The object of this work is Lithuanian news agencies "Delfi.lt", "15min", "Lrytas.lt", and "lrt.lt" commentator's publications related to the mass initiatives of "supermarket boycott" and "protests against the new Labour Code" which both happened in 2016. The paper examines discreditation of civil initiatives, as one of the attributes of a liberal democracy, in the public space. In order to examine the problem, there are 5 tasks to fallow: (1) to discuss the main features of the collective activities of liberal democracy; (2) to assess the media as a political tool of communication to the public knowledge; (3) to disclosure the selected social initiatives characteristics; (4) to perform selected media portals public commentators publications qualitative discourse analysis, highlighting the main findings; (5) to assess the dominant media portals statements by liberal democratic criteria and assessing the significance of the discourse for civil society. The qualitative discourse analysis method was used for the analyzed problem. A structured interview was also used as a method which helped to disclose and assess the positions of the online media commentators for the relevant civil initiatives. The research revealed that the initiative "supermarket boycott" attempted not only to use its collective action resources to change the market prices but to have solidarity with the most vulnerable social groups as well. Meanwhile the protesters against the new Labour Code were holding a position against the bill thus creating resonance within the society and contributing to the growth of the protest culture in Lithuania. The discourse of the public commentators in the public space assessing the civil and social initiatives opposes the liberal democracy principals where free people meetings (freedom of association) are one of the core ideas of liberal democracy. While having the resources to construct the public opinion, the public commenter's limit the possibilities for other opposing doctrines to appear and act - allowing us to make a conclusion that pluralism is not appreciated. The dominant discourse implies ideas about negative consequences for the liberal and civil society's development.