Paradoxes of new media: Digital discourses on Eurovision 2014, media flows and post-Soviet nation-building

This article explores the contradictions inherent in new media representations of sexual minorities in two bordering post-Soviet countries, Belarus and Lithuania. These nations are divided by their non/membership of the European Union and, being at the western periphery of the former Russian imperial centre, remain directly affected by the Russian mediascape and its information flows. While both countries’ state media closely adhere to the Russian establishment’s homophobic discourse, the role of new media remains largely uncharted. This article uses discourse analysis to (a) examine the influence of Russian media on each nation’s digital discussions about sexual minorities and (b) explore new media’s potential to mediate the intersection of sexual minorities and nation-building in two post-Soviet states. The analysis is centred on a set of online media publications (including their ‘comments’ sections), generated by the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 being won by Conchita Wurst, a drag performer with a beard.