| Abstract [eng] |
In 2018, while announcing his candidacy for the Lithuanian presidential election, Gitanas Nausėda widely raised the concept of the “welfare state” in his speech, what led to discussions among the public, politicians and other stakeholders about what it is a welfare state? The media became a rather active catalyst for such discussions, broadcasting the concept of the “welfare state” to the public, writing about it and providing a platform for other scholars and politicians to discuss the goals and objectives of the welfare state. It can be said that by examining the interpretations of the concept of the welfare state and its elements, the media has become and is one of the main platforms that can provide information about the welfare state. Therefore, the master's final thesis examines how the Lithuanian media understand the welfare state and how it presents and portrays this understanding to the public. The aim of the master's thesis is to analyze the representation of the welfare state in the Lithuanian media. The objectives of the thesis are to reveal the concept of welfare state and its models presented by various authors, to present the challenges facing the welfare state, to analyze the role of the media in informing the welfare state in scientific literature and research, and to identify the presentation of the welfare state , based on framing theory, in the Lithuanian media, portrayal of the concepts and models of the welfare state that are shown in the country's media. Four media outlets were selected to examine the depiction of the welfare state in the Lithuanian media - the news portals “Delfi.lt”, “Lrytas.lt”, “15min.lt” and the news agency “BNS” (Baltic News Service). The publications selected for the study were analyzed through the MAXQDA Qualitative Data Analysis Program, which included a qualitative analysis of articles published in four media outlets. The qualitative analysis was based on the theory of framing, which examined the content of publications published in 2019-2021. The analysis of the publications showed that the media portrayed the “welfare state” in many ways, through different aspects. The keyword was most often associated with the President of Lithuania G. Nausėda and was shown through the economic and financial prism. The concept of the “welfare state” in the texts was usually the main topic when presenting it through the analysis of its fields or was one of the topics discussed. The key word was mentioned by interlocutors from different fields, from the president to the clergy. Writing about the “welfare state”, the media played political news and leadership, translation in helping to understand events and shape citizens' opinions roles. |
