Abstrakt
How do the media represent the Place Identity (place-based identity), and how do the media function as a primary source for the image creation associated with a distant place? The study answers this question through an investigation of the media representations of the industrial city of Ostrava, the cultural and economic centre of the Moravian-Silesian region that is the poorer part of the Czech Republic even though until recently it was a significant mining centre. This study draws on the tradition of Media Geographies, the field of study that has been developed more systematically, especially in the last two decades.
With interest in media representations and urban imaginaries, the research picks up a challenge of linking Media Studies and Urban studies concepts by studying media representations of physical/material place as well as confronting two different concepts of Place Identity (in terms of ideologies and social practices manifested spatially and territorially) and Place Image (in terms of city branding). Almost 20,000 media outputs (print as well as on-line media) were analysed during three phases.
The whole dataset went through exploratory analysis by using web-based application for performing text analysis (namely Voyant Tools). It was followed by traditional content analysis based on a codebook, that focused mainly on the identification of crucial communication topics with a keen interest in the concepts of city image, place identity, cultural and art production and urban public space.
After these two steps, when the identification the most relevant media outputs happened, selected text documents were investigated qualitatively through narrative content analysis and confronted with narrative content analysis of thirty interviews conducted with cultural, political and economic stakeholders of Ostrava. Among others, the result of the research shows how the representations and main narratives on Ostrava in the regional and national press differ and how urban cultural mega-events influence framing of the city in the national media.