Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MEDIATIZED EU (Mediatized Discourses on Europeanization and Their Representations in Public Perceptions)
Période du rapport: 2021-01-01 au 2022-03-31
Modern media tend to lean towards a more cynical framing of politics, contributing to the public’s alienation from political processes. This is reflected in how the European public responds to the European integration process and in the rise of Euroscepticism. Media framing of the EU debate plays a central role in constructing citizens’ perceptions of the EU and European identity and attitudes towards EU enlargement. The EU-funded MEDIATIZED EU project will study how media discourses are created to promote or prevent the European project and how they resonate amongst the public, focusing on the elite-media-public triangle. The project will use a comprehensive mixed methods approach to reveal the specifics of such mediatisation of political discourses on the process of Europeanisation.
The Project research objectives are as follows:
1. To study the framing of the pragmatic and identity factors related to Europeanisation in the media and its representations in public opinion;
2. To explore the role of political and media elites in the media framing of the pragmatic and identity factors related to Europeanisation;
3. To trace the interconnections between the political and media elites’ discourses, EU framing, and public opinion.
Relevance and societal impact
In the context of the “post-broadcast era” with diversified media platforms and public spaces loaded with hyper- pluralistic information across Europe, the project explores the framing of the European project in the traditional and new media and its representations in public perceptions. In fact, it focuses on the interconnections between the elites’ discourses, EU framing, and public opinion, thus targeting the elite-media-population triangle to gain a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. The rationale behind this purpose lies in the challenges the EU is currently facing. Considering the ongoing migration crisis in the European countries, as well as the rise of right-wing populist discourses and disinformation media campaigns, the European project becomes more exposed to “self-disorganization” and “self-disorientation”. Therefore, the latest data should be collected on the ongoing developments, so that the policymakers are provided with the updated information on the media representations of the European project, as well as the interconnections between the elites’ discourses, EU framing and public perceptions, which will enable them to develop informed strategies for tackling Eurosceptic attitudes and narratives.
The Project research objectives are as follows:
1. To study the framing of the pragmatic and identity factors related to Europeanisation in the media and its representations in public opinion;
2. To explore the role of political and media elites in the media framing of the pragmatic and identity factors related to Europeanisation;
3. To trace the interconnections between the political and media elites’ discourses, EU framing, and public opinion.
Relevance and societal impact
In the context of the “post-broadcast era” with diversified media platforms and public spaces loaded with hyper- pluralistic information across Europe, the project explores the framing of the European project in the traditional and new media and its representations in public perceptions. In fact, it focuses on the interconnections between the elites’ discourses, EU framing, and public opinion, thus targeting the elite-media-population triangle to gain a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. The rationale behind this purpose lies in the challenges the EU is currently facing. Considering the ongoing migration crisis in the European countries, as well as the rise of right-wing populist discourses and disinformation media campaigns, the European project becomes more exposed to “self-disorganization” and “self-disorientation”. Therefore, the latest data should be collected on the ongoing developments, so that the policymakers are provided with the updated information on the media representations of the European project, as well as the interconnections between the elites’ discourses, EU framing and public perceptions, which will enable them to develop informed strategies for tackling Eurosceptic attitudes and narratives.
From M1 to M15 of the project, a number of key work activities have been performed, including:
- the establishment of the project governing structures, including the Project Board and Quality Board, and the signing of the Consortium Agreement
- the project Kick-off meeting was held to mark the official launch of the project
- key governing documents such as the Data Management Plan, Quality Assurance Plan and Dissemination Action Plan have been prepared
- all of the planned deliverables for M1-15 have been completed and submitted across all work packages
- all of the milestones for M1-M15 have been achieved
- key documents guiding the mixed-method research design and methodology for the project have been devised and are now being used by project partner teams in the initial stages of the research. The teams have also benefited from training webinars on key aspects of the research approach.
Key results achieved so far:
- The project visual identity, website and social media channels have been created and the project dissemination activities are well underway, with regular news updates, newsletters, social media posts published, as well as a project roundtable held and first podcast recorded.
- Historical overview (desk research) report drafted by the consortium marks the first large-scale research deliverable for the project and preliminary analysis from it has already been presented at conferences and used as a foundation for early academic publications and non-academic popular publications.
- The media analysis phase for the project has begun with sampling of media outlets now completed and data collection completed, and content analysis and critical discourse analysis currently underway.
- The preliminary policy scoping report has been drafted to outline the MEDIATIZED EU project's conceptual and research relevance to key policy issues. The scoping report will inform the policy roundtable held later in 2022 jointly with two other Horizon 2020 projects in the same topic stream.
- the establishment of the project governing structures, including the Project Board and Quality Board, and the signing of the Consortium Agreement
- the project Kick-off meeting was held to mark the official launch of the project
- key governing documents such as the Data Management Plan, Quality Assurance Plan and Dissemination Action Plan have been prepared
- all of the planned deliverables for M1-15 have been completed and submitted across all work packages
- all of the milestones for M1-M15 have been achieved
- key documents guiding the mixed-method research design and methodology for the project have been devised and are now being used by project partner teams in the initial stages of the research. The teams have also benefited from training webinars on key aspects of the research approach.
Key results achieved so far:
- The project visual identity, website and social media channels have been created and the project dissemination activities are well underway, with regular news updates, newsletters, social media posts published, as well as a project roundtable held and first podcast recorded.
- Historical overview (desk research) report drafted by the consortium marks the first large-scale research deliverable for the project and preliminary analysis from it has already been presented at conferences and used as a foundation for early academic publications and non-academic popular publications.
- The media analysis phase for the project has begun with sampling of media outlets now completed and data collection completed, and content analysis and critical discourse analysis currently underway.
- The preliminary policy scoping report has been drafted to outline the MEDIATIZED EU project's conceptual and research relevance to key policy issues. The scoping report will inform the policy roundtable held later in 2022 jointly with two other Horizon 2020 projects in the same topic stream.
MEDIATIZED EU's innovative methodological approach, which integrates various methods of qualitative, quantitative, and deliberative research, allows a deep understanding of how the EU framing impacts public perceptions of the European project and Europeanization. It also allows for meaningful nuanced comparisons between different European countries and regions. MEDIATIZED EU explores how discourses about the EU emerge, how they change or transform over time, and how they are reflected in public perceptions in target States. As for new discourses, the project will explore to what extent they are local or imported, and whether they are easily incorporated or rejected (as foreign) by European citizens. This will provide EU and national policymakers with up-to-date information on how the media and elites can legitimize and validate certain political discourses and delegitimize or invalidate others. MEDIATIZED EU will study how the media can be instrumentalized to promote certain agendas to shape public opinion on the EU. This will facilitate the adoption of effective strategies to respond to Eurosceptic attitudes and discourses that are propagated through harmful means such as propaganda and disinformation. It will also inform potential interventions and media literacy strategies aimed at raising public awareness and understanding of the EU.
Russia's war against Ukraine and the ensuing intensification of information warfare and the unprecedented disinformation campaigns launched by third States against the EU during the pandemic to discredit the EU and democratic governance prove the importance of analyzing to what extent such discourses are penetrating the media landscape in Europe and who are local interlocutors of such narratives and how they impact public perception of the EU.
Our research thus will move scholarly and policy making understanding in this arena beyond the state of the art and will provide useful insights across national contexts.
Russia's war against Ukraine and the ensuing intensification of information warfare and the unprecedented disinformation campaigns launched by third States against the EU during the pandemic to discredit the EU and democratic governance prove the importance of analyzing to what extent such discourses are penetrating the media landscape in Europe and who are local interlocutors of such narratives and how they impact public perception of the EU.
Our research thus will move scholarly and policy making understanding in this arena beyond the state of the art and will provide useful insights across national contexts.