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The media landscape in Estonia

Under the Soviet dictatorship there was no free press, but at least those living in the north of Estonia were able to receive Finnish television. This meant they were considerably better informed than most other Soviet citizens. During the Glasnost phase which began in 1986, a surprisingly alert and diverse media landscape quickly developed. The traditional newspapers like Postimees were brought back to life, new newspapers were launched, and the public broadcasting company Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) underwent profound reform.

Tallinn: Blick über die Altstadt vom Domberg Richtung Nordosten.
Foto: Brunswyk, Lizenz: Creative Commons by-sa/3.0

After independence in 1990/91 above all the newspaper market saw a number of new launches and mergers, a process that continues until today. This market is currently dominated by the three major dailies Postimees, Õhtuleht and Eesti Päevaleht. There are also weeklies like Maaleht and Eesti Ekspress, as well as business papers like Äripäev and a number of smaller regional papers.

In the 1990s Estonia focused heavily on expanding the Internet, with the result that online media play a particularly important role there today while the print media have lost ground. The leading online portal is Delfi, which in recent years has expanded to Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. Delfi, as well as the online editions of the dailies, all feature blogs, however overall the latter play only a minor role in public debate.

Delfi belongs to the same media group as Eesti Päevaleht, Maaleht, Eesti Ekspress and Õhtuleht. This group competes with the Norwegian-controlled Postimees media group. This high concentration on the market is constantly criticised, with the media being accused of representing the interests of their owners. Moreover, many Estonians fear that members of the Russian minority in Estonia could be influenced by the Russian state media and mobilised against the Estonian state. To counter such a situation there are plans to expand the range of Russian-language options offered by private and public Estonian media.

This country's media at euro|topics