"Have nothing to worry about? the news will help you": social construction of risk in online news media
ENDifferent studies show that media (traditional and new) is one of the key sources of information about the world, risk is not an exception as well. According to Mythen (2010), risk events are becoming an inseparable part of the news agenda. In nowadays global societies, the intensely functioning online media is becoming one more field in which intensive flow of risk communication is maintained. When creating awareness of risks, the role of the media is essential. News organisations are one of the most significant actors involved in the social construction of risk. Using a variety of procedures news media gain ability to frame the perception of risk, amplifying or attenuating it. As Beck states, without techniques of visualization, without symbolic forms, without mass media, risks are socially non-existent (2006). Thus, this paper focuses on the social construction of risk and introduces the part of the study investigating the risk discourse ongoing in Lithuanian online news media in 2006-2014. The study is grounded on the mixed methods approach, integrating the elements of quantitative and qualitative studies. The critical discourse analysis is employed as a strategy of the research. All the empirical data were obtained from the archives of the most popular Lithuanian online news websites: DELFI and lrytas.lt using a multistage sample. The empirical base of the research was selected from the general set of the texts published on DELFI and lrytas.lt in 2006-2014 [p. 82].
