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Media representation of the LGBTQ+ community in Poland : Framing of politicized issues as a representation of political parallelism in the Polish public service broadcaster TVP

Bajor, Natalia Joanna LU (2022) MKVM13 20221
Media and Communication Studies
Department of Communication and Media
Abstract
This Master’s thesis analyzes the narratives that are used to portray the LGBTQ+ community and how they relate to the political parallelism of the Polish media system. The focus is on the online edition of TVP Info – the news channel of TVP, Poland’s public service broadcaster. The research investigates the structural changes of the media system, which occurred after the Law & Justice Party (PiS) gained a parliamentary majority in the 2015 Polish elections. This research places itself in a larger context of Central and Eastern European (CEE) and post-communist countries, where further conclusions regarding these systems have been drawn. The study concluded its findings can be used as a methodological and theoretical anchor to investigate... (More)
This Master’s thesis analyzes the narratives that are used to portray the LGBTQ+ community and how they relate to the political parallelism of the Polish media system. The focus is on the online edition of TVP Info – the news channel of TVP, Poland’s public service broadcaster. The research investigates the structural changes of the media system, which occurred after the Law & Justice Party (PiS) gained a parliamentary majority in the 2015 Polish elections. This research places itself in a larger context of Central and Eastern European (CEE) and post-communist countries, where further conclusions regarding these systems have been drawn. The study concluded its findings can be used as a methodological and theoretical anchor to investigate media systems in political flux.
The aim was to investigate news reports and seek repeating patterns of what narratives are used to refer to and discuss the LGBTQ+ community. For this study the timeframe plays a crucial role, therefore a period of the month of August 2020 has been selected. August 2020 marks the protests in Poland’s capital Warsaw after the arrest of the transgender activist Margot earlier that year.
The main goal of the project is to identify ways in which the LGBTQ+ community is portrayed in the text of the public broadcaster TVP. This was done to get a better insight into narratives employed by the current Polish government and its ruling party. The argument supporting this approach is that structural changes in the media system have affected the public broadcasting service, and, in particular, how they represent the LGBTQ+ community. The research has revealed a clear parallel between the recent change to Act 21 “Broadcasting Act”, which regulates the Polish public broadcasting service TVP, and employed tactics of the implicit cultural framing of the LGBTQ+ community. This commonality is equating the Catholic values to universal moral conduct.
The common denominator has been revealed to be the Catholic Church, which served as a universal moral code to discredit the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, a strong bond between the LGBTQ+ community and the political opposition has been observed. Arguably, this is evidence for discrediting the opposition, while simultaneously building a strong image of the ruling party PiS by negatively framing the LGBTQ+ community. This research is placed within a larger context of other CEE countries, it serves as a contextual framework to further investigate media systems in that geopolitical region. (Less)
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author
Bajor, Natalia Joanna LU
supervisor
organization
course
MKVM13 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Minority representation, the LGBTQ+ community, framing analysis, political parallelism, media systems, CEE countries
language
English
id
9079513
date added to LUP
2022-06-07 10:57:26
date last changed
2022-06-07 10:57:26
@misc{9079513,
  abstract     = {{This Master’s thesis analyzes the narratives that are used to portray the LGBTQ+ community and how they relate to the political parallelism of the Polish media system. The focus is on the online edition of TVP Info – the news channel of TVP, Poland’s public service broadcaster. The research investigates the structural changes of the media system, which occurred after the Law & Justice Party (PiS) gained a parliamentary majority in the 2015 Polish elections. This research places itself in a larger context of Central and Eastern European (CEE) and post-communist countries, where further conclusions regarding these systems have been drawn. The study concluded its findings can be used as a methodological and theoretical anchor to investigate media systems in political flux. 
The aim was to investigate news reports and seek repeating patterns of what narratives are used to refer to and discuss the LGBTQ+ community. For this study the timeframe plays a crucial role, therefore a period of the month of August 2020 has been selected. August 2020 marks the protests in Poland’s capital Warsaw after the arrest of the transgender activist Margot earlier that year. 
The main goal of the project is to identify ways in which the LGBTQ+ community is portrayed in the text of the public broadcaster TVP. This was done to get a better insight into narratives employed by the current Polish government and its ruling party. The argument supporting this approach is that structural changes in the media system have affected the public broadcasting service, and, in particular, how they represent the LGBTQ+ community. The research has revealed a clear parallel between the recent change to Act 21 “Broadcasting Act”, which regulates the Polish public broadcasting service TVP, and employed tactics of the implicit cultural framing of the LGBTQ+ community. This commonality is equating the Catholic values to universal moral conduct.
The common denominator has been revealed to be the Catholic Church, which served as a universal moral code to discredit the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, a strong bond between the LGBTQ+ community and the political opposition has been observed. Arguably, this is evidence for discrediting the opposition, while simultaneously building a strong image of the ruling party PiS by negatively framing the LGBTQ+ community. This research is placed within a larger context of other CEE countries, it serves as a contextual framework to further investigate media systems in that geopolitical region.}},
  author       = {{Bajor, Natalia Joanna}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Media representation of the LGBTQ+ community in Poland : Framing of politicized issues as a representation of political parallelism in the Polish public service broadcaster TVP}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}