Media coverage of shadow economy | Ēnu ekonomikas atspoguļojums masu mēdijos

The shadow economy is an actual issue in Latvia with its negative impact on the economic and the welfare of society. The cause of the shadow economy isn’t only on ineffective economic policy, but also a society which is well-disposed towards the shadow economy. The mass media and especially the news media is one of the most important agents of socialization and information, and that means that the mass media reproduce dominant social norms, beliefs, discourses, ideologies and values. In regard to these allegations this scientific research is aimed at clarifying what exactly is the media coverage of shadow economy. The objective of the scientific work was successfully achieved because of two main research questions: What kind of information about shadow economy is contained in the mass media? In what context information is reported? In the research was used quantitative and qualitative content analysis – one of the most effective research methods to understand media content. One of the main conclusions of the quantitative research part is – the internet news media contain information about the shadow economy. Articles about this phenomenon have been published frequently in 2011th but these publications are superficial – most publications perform the function of information and its negative tendency – a large part of society supports participation in the informal economy and this is the main reason why the mass media should perform the function of correction and mobilization – it means the mass media have to introduce society with the shadow economy as a serious issue. But in the qualitative part of the research it became clear that most publications contain information about causes of shadow economy while information about the negative effects of the shadow economy is much less emphasized. The informal economy in mass media content is reflected in context with the ineffective economic system that is the main cause of the shadow economy. The main conclusion or hypothesis of the research: because of media coverage of the shadow economy that reduces societal loyalty to the government and the decisions of the government, the morale of society is low.