According to the study, Lithuania was mentioned 918,000 times in international media last year. During the same period, Estonia was mentioned 812,000 times, and Latvia 736,000 times.
Around 60% of all publications mentioning Lithuania were assigned to specific narratives. The most frequently mentioned topics were Ukraine and the context of war (15.4%), defence and NATO (12.5%), and relations with Russia (12.1%). These overshadowed other important themes, such as Lithuania’s economy and business, energy and sustainability, travel and tourism, migration, and others.
According to Repsense, most publications about Lithuania were recorded in the media of the United States, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as in Germany and Poland.
The company’s founder, Mykolas Katkus, explained that Lithuania’s prominence in the US and Russian media is due to the country being labelled as a „frontline“ state.
„Do Lithuania and the Baltic countries remain frontline states in the eyes of the international media? The data provides a clear answer – yes. It is no surprise that Lithuania is of greatest interest to the media in the US and Russia. All other efforts to shape the countries’ image dissolve in the fog of geopolitical tensions,“ emphasised Katkus.
Last year, Lithuania’s domestic political events received significant international media attention – including the resignation of Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas and his Cabinet.
International media also reported on the protests held in Vilnius last December over the government’s proposed amendments to the LRT Law, and Remigijus Žemaitaitis’ antisemitic statements also attracted widespread coverage. The latter were analysed primarily in Russia (around 280 mentions), the US, and Poland.
This online media study covered 100 countries worldwide, analysing 3.2 million mentions and conducting around 900 search simulations.