What it’s like to be a media user in Latvia and Estonia. Laura Šmideberga and Dmitrijs Petrenko | 3

In this personal and reflective episode of Media and Society, Latvian-born glass artist Laura Šmideberga and Südalinna Theatre Creative Director Dmitrijs Petrenko share what it means to live between cultures, languages, and media landscapes. Now based in Estonia, they speak about navigating Latvian, Estonian, and Russian-language media, the subtle (and not so subtle) differences in trust toward government and journalism, and the role of public service media in shaping informed, inclusive societies. With warmth, wit, and honesty, they reflect on integration, identity, and the everyday choices we make about where — and how — we get our news.

The Media & Society podcast offers a platform for in-depth conversations about how people experience, think about, and feel regarding media and journalism. Aimed at media professionals and scholars, it explores the multifaceted relationship between media, journalism, and audiences in two Baltic countries — Latvia and Estonia.

The podcast series is hosted by Līga Ozoliņa, a PhD student at Rīga Stradiņš University and a researcher at the Social Sciences Research Centre.

Theme song: Jeremy Blake, Science Montage, Youtube audio library

The podcast series is recorded at Rīga Stradiņš University’s multimedia studio and is produced as part of the Researcher Grant 'Making Sense of Media: A Non-Media-Centric and Open-Ended Approach to the Study of Media-Related Experiences and Perceptions' (No. RSU-ZG-2024/1-0007), which is carried out under the project 'RSU Internal and RSU with LSPA External Consolidation' (No. 5.2.1.1.i.0/2/24/I/CFLA/005). The project is funded by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility and the state budget. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.