ABSTRACT
Lithuania, along with its neighbours Latvia and Estonia, is slowly vanishing from the global map of news. Attempts by the Baltic States to present themselves as part of Northern Europe were successful but did not help increase worldwide visibility. However, the logic behind that outcome may be that the Soviet past and the success story of escape from the Communist Empire made the Baltic States distinctive, whereas the image of a stable democracy is boring and, while it helps attract investment, the media turn elsewhere. In the early part of the 20th century, Lithuania was known for its conflicts with Poland and Germany. During the Cold War, it was either an unknown Soviet province or a home of human rights activists. Lithuania enjoyed a moment as a media star in the late 1980s and early 1990s while being on the front line in the fight against Communism. The first decade of independence was marked by a race for the membership in the European Union and NATO. This helped Lithuania preserve a modest place on the news map, but only for a short time. The year 2004 marked its entrance into the EU and NATO and the loss of any remnant of interest from the international media.
