|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Journalists as Commentatorson European PoliticsEducators, Partisans or Ideologues?
Paul Statham
Department of Sociology, Centre for European Political Communications (EurPolCom), Bristol Institute for Public Affairs, University of Bristol, 3 Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TX, UK, paul.statham{at}bristol.ac.uk
 Questions of media performance seem to be inherently linked to any proposed solutions to Europe's perceived `democratic deficit'. This article addresses a specific part of this story: the attempts by journalists from the national press to commentate politically on European affairs, and their self-perceptions about the opportunities and constraints facing them. The article's main enquiry is whether commentating on Europe is different from commentating on national affairs. A model was constructed to assess types of political advocacy. The empirical study is based on interviews with a sample of journalists with four different roles, and from four different types of newspaper, from seven European countries. The main finding is that to the extent that they take on an advocacy role at all with regard to Europe, journalists see themselves as adopting an educational mode of raising public awareness, more than a political `partisan' or `ideological campaign' mode. Such findings are then discussed in relation to the broader issue of media performance over Europe.
Key Words: advocacy • commentary • democratic deficit • Europe • journalism
References
- Anderson, Peter J. and Antony Weymouth (1999) Insulting the Public? British Press and the European Union. London: Longman.
- Blumler, Jay G. and Michael Gurevitch (1995) `Towards Comparative Framework for Political Communication Research', in J.G. Blumler and M. Gurevitch (eds) The Crisis of Public Communication. London: Routledge.
- Börzel, Tanja A. (2006) `Participation through Law Enforcement: The Case of the European Union', Comparative Political Studies 39(1): 128—52.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Donsbach, Wolfgang and Thomas E. Patterson (2004) `Political News Journalists: Partisanship, Professionalism, and Political Roles in Five Countries', in F. Esser and B. Pfetsch (eds) Comparing Political Communication: Theories, Cases and Challenges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Eilders, Cristianne, Friedhelm Neidhardt and Barbara Pfetsch (eds) (2004) Die Stimme der Medien. Pressekommentare und politische Öffentlichkeit in der Bundesrepublik. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
- European Commission (2006) ` White Paper on a European Communication Policy', COM (2006) 35 final, Brussels; at: ec.europa.eu/communication_white_paper/doc/white_paper_en.pdf
- Firmstone, Julie (2007) The Editorial Opinion of the British Press on European Integration PhD Thesis. Leeds: Universtiy of Leeds.
- Gerhards, Jürgen (1992) `Europäische Öffentlichkeit durch Massenmedien?', pp. 558—67 in B. Schäfers (ed.) Lebensverhältnisse und soziale Konflikte im neuen Europa. Verhandlungen des 26. Deutschen Soziologentages in Düsseldorf 1992. Frankfurt: Campus.
- Habermas, Jürgen (2005) `Why Europe Needs a Constitution', in E.O. Eriksen, J.E. Fossum and A. José Menéndez (eds) Developing a Constitution for Europe. London: Routledge.
- Hallin, Daniel C. and Paolo Mancini (2004) Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Iyengar, Shanto (1993) `Agenda Setting and Beyond: Television News and the Strength of Political Issues', in W.H. Riker (ed.) Agenda Formation. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
- Koopmans, Ruud (2007) `Who Inhabits the European Public Sphere? Winners and Losers and Opponents in Europeanised Political Debates', European Journal of Political Research 46(2): 183—210.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Koopmans, Ruud and Paul Statham (2002) `The Transformation of Political Mobilisation and Communication in European Public Spheres: A Research Outline'; at: europub.wz-berlin.de/project_design.en.htm
- Moravcsik, Andrew (2002) `In Defense of the "Democratic Deficit": Reassessing Legitimacy in the European Union', Journal of Common Market Studies 40(4): 603—24.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Page, Benjamin I. (1996) `The Mass Media as Political Actors', Political Science and Politics 29(1): 20—4.[CrossRef]
- Peters, Bernhard, Steffanie Stifft, Andreas Wimmel, Michael Brüggemann and Katharina Kleinen von Königslöw ( 2005) `National and Transnational Public Spheres: The Case of the EU', European Review No. 1 (supp.): 139—60.
- Schlesinger, Philip (1999) `Changing Spaces of Political Communication: The Case of the European Union', Political Communication 16: 263—79.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
- Shoemaker, Pamela and Stephen Reese (1996) Mediating the Message: Theories of Influence on Mass Media Content. White Plains, NY: Longman.
- Slaatta, Tore (2006) `Europeanisation and the News Media: Issues and Research Imperatives', Javnost — The Public 13(1): 5—24.
- Statham, Paul (2006) `Political Journalism and Europeanization: Pressing Europe?', EurPolCom Working Paper 13/06, University of Leeds; at: ics.leeds.ac.uk/eurpolcom/discussion_papers.cfm
- Statham, Paul (2007) `Political Communication, European Integration and the Transformation of National Public Spheres: A Comparison of Britain and France', in J.E. Fossum and P. Schlesinger (eds) The European Union and the Public Sphere: A Communicative Space in the Making? London: Routledge.
- Statham, Paul (forthcoming) `Political Journalism and Europeanisation: Pressing Europe?', Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism.
- Trenz, Hans-Jörg (2005) Europa in den Medien. Die europäische Integration im Spiegel nationaler Ö fentlichkeit. Frankfurt: Campus.
- Trenz, Hans-Jörg, Maximilian Conrad and Guri Rosén ( 2007) The Interpretative Moment of European Journalism, Report No. 3/07. Oslo: ARENA.
- Van de Steeg, Marianne (2002) `Rethinking the Conditions for a Public Sphere in the European Union', European Journal of Social Theory 5: 499—519.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
European Journal of Communication, Vol. 22, No. 4,
461-477 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0267323107083063
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
M. Bruggemann and K. Kleinen-von Konigslow
`Let's Talk about Europe': Why Europeanization Shows a Different Face in Different Newspapers
European Journal of Communication,
March 1, 2009;
24(1):
27 - 48.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. Statham
Making Europe news: How journalists view their role and media performance
Journalism,
August 1, 2008;
9(4):
398 - 422.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Firmstone
Approaches of the transnational press to reporting Europe
Journalism,
August 1, 2008;
9(4):
423 - 442.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Cornia, J. Lonnendonker, and P. Nitz
European Councils as first encounters of trans-European media communication?
Journalism,
August 1, 2008;
9(4):
493 - 515.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
