Kultuuriajakirjad sotsioloogi pilguga
Cultural Magazines: a Sociologist’s Look

Summary/Abstract: The article seeks to answer the following questions: Should Keel ja Kirjandus be addressed, first and foremost, to a relatively narrow readership of professional philologists or should a somewhat wider audience be contemplated. Is it at all possible to reach an audience with broad cultural interests today? What is necessary for this purpose? How to achieve it? What made a wider readership possible in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s? The answers are sought, largely relying on studies and analyses carried out by the Institute of Journalism and Communication at Tartu University. By way of conclusion it is emphasized that in an occasional audience of cultural press reading regularity cannot be raised by traditional editor’s methods, aimed mainly at improving the quality of the publications. There is dire need for additional activities such as definition of the target groups and consistent work on them, trying to enhance the popularity of cultural editions by also using the daily newspapers, the national broadcast and the Web. The ultimate mission of Keel ja Kirjandus is to preserve and develop Estonianbased philological culture as a whole, as this culture is jeopardized by marginalization of the Estonian humanities, aggressive market economy and commercialism, preference of global audio-visual media, and the advance of the Internet. Thus, Keel ja Kirjandus will remain, as it is now, first and foremost a specialized philological magazine – the only forum for Estonian-based scholarly publications and academic discussion in this field.

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