Alcohol control – 59, the new Labour Code – 41. This is the percentage result of how these two topics were covered in the Lithuanian media over the past twelve months. After the relevant laws came into force and discussions about these long-dominant issues in Lithuania somewhat subsided in the public sphere, the media monitoring and analysis company Mediaskopas summarized the development of these topics in the public arena.
The company’s study shows how media attention to these topics was distributed over the 12 months from June 1, 2016, to June 1, 2017, further dividing this period into two separate six-month intervals: from June 1, 2016, to December and from December 1, 2016, to June 1, 2017.
“We chose this time period for a reason. It was interesting to compare how much these issues were reflected in the media during the last six months of the previous government led by Algirdas Butkevičius and the first six months in office of the Government led by Saulius Skvernelis, which began work last December,” says Mediaskopas Director Jūratė Stankuvienė.
In total, during the period from June 1, 2016, to June 1, 2017, there were 9,395 mentions related to alcohol control recorded in the country’s media, while the new Labour Code was mentioned 6,436 times (in percentage terms: 59 and 41). Meanwhile, during the last six months of the 16th Government’s term, the new Labour Code was mentioned more often (4,359; 55%) than alcohol control (3,539; 45%), although the difference is not very pronounced. The numbers look quite different during the first six months of work of the 17th Government: the Labour Code – 2,172 (27%), alcohol control – 5,895 (73%).
During the last six months of his leadership of the Cabinet, A. Butkevičius was mentioned 436 times in the context of the new Labour Code, and 19 times in the topic of alcohol control. During the first six months of the Government led by S. Skvernelis, he appears 319 times in the Labour Code topic and 264 times in alcohol control.
In the alcohol restriction topic during the same period, the most frequently mentioned person was the chairman of the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, Ramūnas Karbauskis, with 477 mentions. Also very active here was Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga, with 444 mentions, compared with the health ministers of the 16th Government: Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė (21), Juras Požela (11), and Juozas Olekas, who temporarily held the post of minister of health at the end of the term (0).
“R. Karbauskis was also active in the new Labour Code topic (122 mentions in the period from December 1, 2016, to June 1, 2017), but the absolute leader across the entire analyzed 12-month period in this area is President Dalia Grybauskaitė (892). As we observe in the media of recent times, both topics — both the new Labour Code and alcohol restrictions — are not yet completely extinguished and, under the right circumstances, can flare up again at full force,” says Mediaskopas head J. Stankuvienė.
This media study was conducted by monitoring publications in national, regional, and district newspapers and magazines, as well as reports from internet portals and news agencies.
