"Good death" - the circumstances in which it would be best for a person to die. The representative survey of Latvian population

The paper analyses the opinions of Latvian residents about the desired/best conditions for person’s death. Our intention was to use the concept of “good death” as it has been described in academic literature on the end of life to describe what circumstances of dying are preferred in Latvian population. A nationally representative survey of Latvian permanent residents (n = 1012) was conducted in October 2020. The obtained answers are analysed in different demographic groups, as well as in connection with other respondents’ perceptions and values. The results of the study show that the possibility of dying in pain and suffering is a major concern for the majority of Latvian society, and a large percentage of people would like to leave their lives in sleep or sudden death. The results of the study also show people’s desire to be in their homes at the time of death, to die in the presence of relatives. The survey shows a statistically significant relationship between people’s perceptions of the desired/best conditions in which to die - “good death” and a range of demographic and social factors. The data of the study carried out provide new information on people’s perceptions of death, highlighting differences in different socio-demographic groups.publishersversionPeer reviewe

The evolution of foucault's reasoning on pathology

This paper is an attempt to theoretically describe the development and transformation of the ideas of French philosopher Michel Foucault whose work on body, disease and mental illness provide a basis for an advanced approach in the philosophy of medicine. The aim of the research is to understand on the basis of the theoretical review of Foucault’ s works and secondary literature the evolution of the reasoning on pathology in different works by the French author. In the first part of the paper we describe how Foucault came to the idea that psychiatric and organic must be treated as completely different. In the second part, we ad more sociocultural context and discuss Foucault’s ideas in the perspective of developing modernity.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Reporting like there was no pandemic: Cultural journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland, Sweden, and Latvia

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused both a widespread public health crisis and a global economic crisis, disrupting every aspect of our lives, health, education, jobs, and social life. To provide the public with trustworthy and continuously updated information and stories during uncertain times, newsrooms have made pandemic coverage a priority. Conducting a content analysis of Norwegian news and debate programs on radio and television throughout 2020, we found that the frames most dominant in news broadcasts were the least used frames in debate programs, and vice versa. Overall, the five most common frames were societal consequences, economic consequences, medical risk, government measures, social behaviour, and risk. This suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic was contextualized as an economic and social crisis as well as a health crisis. However, the lack of politicization, conflict and responsibility frames, suggests media coverage missed a critical perspective

Signs and Meanings in the Representations of their Home City by the School Pupils of Daugavpils

Daugavpils historically was the place where different ethnic groups are living together, interacting on the public spaces. The mixture of cultures is represented in the city landscape - home to every inhabitant, still having differents accents, figures and symbolical meanings. The following paper is based on the semiotic analysis of the pictures made by the pupils of different (ethnic) schools of Daugavpils, in order to understand what and how cildren "see" their city - what are the signs they use to construct the message about their city together and what do they mean - how different is a pictorial message. To do the analysis collection of the children drawings was made for an exhibition in the hall of the city munipality of Daugavpils - a material for our research. The findings show that besides of expected reference to different cultural traditions and some aestetical preferences, no difference exists between the way children represent their city. Diversity of cultural footprints in the landscape of the city and the pride for their city is present in the works of children coming from different ethnic, linguistic and cultural environments

VISUAL STREET ART: MESSAGES OF RIGA STENCIL GRAFFITI

The modern urban space is inevitably the site of different striking messages from advertisement to graffiti. The last are used as an alternative medium of subculture, even if majority of the public fails to notice it or else interprets it, contrary to culture’s ordered world of meanings, as chaotic “dirt” more closely related to nature than culture. The discourse of messages found in the public space - on the façades of surfaces forming urban space, can be interpreted in a countercultural code and is for the subculture of graffiti itself, a battle taking place for the aesthetization of the public space. This is the answer provided by the rebellious sons to the “fathers of the city”, who possess money and power with which to design urban public space using architectural means. The generation of sons, who are excluded from this real estate discourse due to a lack of means, put into play the only thing they own, i.e. their body, which they subject to the danger of imprisonment, because graffiti is an illegal activity, which in legal terms is interpreted as vandalism, a view that also prevails within the mass media. In this paper we analyze the meaning of visual messages of Riga stencil graffiti using social semiotics' methodology (Kress Leewen, 1996; Jewitt Oyama, 2004). We find that the utilization of the street as an alternative and independent medium in the form of civil disobedience manifested through the translation of radical political ideas, thus to a certain extent performing the work of propaganda, is an example of creative idealism.

The Concept of Cultural Journalism: What the Editors in Latvia Think They Do When Doing Cultural Journalism

Cultural journalism is a matter of current discussions in jour­nalism theory and practical research. As a relatively small and specific area of journalistic practice, it operates in the intersection between media, culture in general, and arts and creative industries. The complexity, heterogeneity and variability of the field is determined by the major changes transforming all three intersecting areas – the new media, diversity of genres and the au­dience practices that characterize contemporary communication; liquidity and hybridity is a mark of the global postindustrial society, whereas art is more and more framed by the rise and convertibility of the concepts of crea­tive class, production, and capital. The self-reflection, conceptualisation of their work and the object of report and reference – culture – by the editors and producers from the Latvian cultural media outlets and departments is the topic of this paper. The main conclusions are that their concepts of cul­ture, cultural quality, and journalistic production, as well as the goals and principles of their work largely differ depending on the type and format of their medium. However, what unifies most of the respondents is the lack of more abstract conceptualisation of the complexity of the field and its social contexts with all the potential consequences for their work and the field of culture in general

Personu vārdi Bībeles tulkojumos latviešu valodā

Advisor: Jānis Rozenberg

Surviving Crisis in Latvia : Narratives of the State and its Citizens in Internet Space

The recovery of Latvian economy was celebrated as a success story by the representatives of International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Commission (EC) and by most of the international media. However, it was a story – a narrative constructed by the government and supported by mass media – that was successful. In the conditions of harsh austerity it allowed government to stay at power by the consent of people. Nevertheless, other stories were told on the Internet. Analysis of narratives in the comments and blogs show how alternative views are developed but also how the consent is created by using the power of connotation and myth of the State. In this article, the critical historical review of the democracy in the contemporary Latvia is a base for understanding the narratives of crisis, the State and its citizens in the internet communication.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Latvia: Bibliographical database of Latvian journalism and media research related to risks and opportunities for deliberative communication (2000–2020)

The dataset is produced within the framework of the HORIZON 2020 project called MEDIADELCOM (Critical Exploration of Media Related Risks and Opportunities for Deliberative Communication: Development Scenarios of the European Media Landscape) in 2021-2022. The dataset is one of the 14 single-country data sets included in the consolidated file of country data sets (with 5623 entries), all in msw.xlsx format. All tables are searchable by 20 variables: full reference, year of publication, national/international publication, language, country the publication deals with, time of empirical data gathering, type of publication, open access/not OA, where referenced, focus on journalism domain, focus on media-related competences domain, focus on media usage patterns domain, focus on legal and ethical regulations domain, type of the approach, original key words, main topic, comments, country. As the data has been gathered specifically about the research done in four mentioned domains concerning potential ROs emanating from the news media development for deliberative communication, this database does NOT cover ALL the academic publications in the fields of media and journalism research. Consequently, the above-mentioned conditions limit the generalizations and comparisons based on the current database

Media education in the common interest: Public perceptions of media literacy policy in Latvia

Although the academic interest in media and information literacy (MIL) is ever increasing, there are not many studies that analyze the public perception of media literacy. This article analyses the interrelations between encouragement measures implemented by media policy and the perception of media literacy in society. The research employs data from a national representative survey (May 2019; N=1,017 respondents). The study explores the respondents’ media literacy perceptions; opinions on risks potentially caused by insufficient media literacy skills; and respondents’ experience with MIL activities. The survey results are compared with survey data on media literacy encouragement measures, aims and target audiences obtained from the Media Policy Unit at the Ministry of Culture media literacy partners. The theoretical background is supported by the media literacy ideological model, which explains media literacy within relationships with the social institutions in which it is practiced, as well as social processes. The data results are controversial. Even though more than half of Latvia’s population view their media literacy knowledge as insufficient, 52% of the respondents are not interested in MIL issues. Concerning the consequences of insufficient media literacy skills within society, the respondents focused mostly on threats to children (40%) and general public safety (28%), decrease in welfare (28%), societal regress (25%), fewer opportunities for high-quality education (26%) and Latvia being behind other EU countries (24%). Even though the media literacy encouragement measures in Latvia include activities aimed at various audiences, they have been noticed by only a slight number of respondents (7–10%).Although the academic interest in media and information literacy (MIL) is ever increasing, there are not many studies that analyze the public perception of media literacy. This article analyses the interrelations between encouragement measures implemented by media policy and the perception of media literacy in society. The research employs data from a national representative survey (May 2019; N=1,017 respondents). The study explores the respondents’ media literacy perceptions; opinions on risks potentially caused by insufficient media literacy skills; and respondents’ experience with MIL activities. The survey results are compared with survey data on media literacy encouragement measures, aims and target audiences obtained from the Media Policy Unit at the Ministry of Culture media literacy partners. The theoretical background is supported by the media literacy ideological model, which explains media literacy within relationships with the social institutions in which it is practiced, as well as social processes. The data results are controversial. Even though more than half of Latvia’s population view their media literacy knowledge as insufficient, 52% of the respondents are not interested in MIL issues. Concerning the consequences of insufficient media literacy skills within society, the respondents focused mostly on threats to children (40%) and general public safety (28%), decrease in welfare (28%), societal regress (25%), fewer opportunities for high-quality education (26%) and Latvia being behind other EU countries (24%). Even though the media literacy encouragement measures in Latvia include activities aimed at various audiences, they have been noticed by only a slight number of respondents (7–10%)