The project is titled “Prospects of Estonian and German local independent media in the era of global platformisation, disinformation campaigns and political populism (EST-GER Local Media)”. The main goal is, through international comparison, to study the status of local independent media and to find ideas and solutions for how to strengthen it. 

For this, the project is divided into two subprojects:

Subproject One is conducted by Tallinn University: 

•  What do German national and local-level institutions, including public service media institutions, do to support local independent local media outlets and functioning of local-level public spheres and media systems?
• What could Estonian ERR and other public institutions do to support Estonian independent local media outlets?
• What could each country learn from the other in facilitating independent local media at the time of global plaformisation?

Subproject Two is conducted by University of Tartu:

• What is the difference of messages and reality constructions between local and national alternative and mainstream media channels in Estonia in comparison with international news providers?
• How are the messages received and attitudes towards events shaped by the audience members?

The project is led by MEDIT’s Ulrike Rohn, Professor of Media Economics and Management, and will last until January 2021. The main partners in this project include Dr. Ragne Kõuts-Klemm (University of Tartu, Estonia), Prof. Dr. Cornelia Wolf (Leipzig University, Germany), and Dr. Florian Toeplf (FU-Berlin and Passau University, Germany). The project will conclude with the presentation of the research results at Tallinn University in January.