Today, media is ever more actively and effectively used as an instrument for exerting influence on public opinion and political decisions. Non-democratic countries like Russia use media as means of propaganda in shaping ideological attitudes. Russia has also considerably increased military activities near the Baltic States, and continuously declared NATO its main enemy. Information field that distorts reality may damage the cohesion of different groups of population and create instability in the society, therefore Estonia should pay more attention to attacks targeted against the cohesion of the society, and develop psychological defence and resistance against anti-Estonian propaganda activities. In order to ensure the security of the society and the state and the sense of security of the people, and to prevent crises and increase confidence in the activities of the state, it is necessary to develop the psychological defence of the state more than it has been done so far. From the point of view of Estonia’s strategic communication and psychological defence, it is important to know how Estonia is depicted in Russian media. Unfortunately it has been assessed only empirically.
Andrus Tamberg
Staff Officer of the Defence Forces, Captain Master of Social Sciences (internal security)