The Europeanization of the Danish news media Denmark as a ‘best case’ example of a Europeanized public sphere?
The Europeanization of the Danish news media Denmark as a ‘best case’ example of a Europeanized public sphere?
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
The question of a European public sphere has for many years been almost purely theoretical, but with the steady publishing of new empirical results the theory seems validated and new questions arise.
One of those questions is why some member states show clear signs of Europeanization and other members show only small or no signs of a process of Europeanization having taken place.
One country that stands out in several studies is Denmark.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
The core issue here is Europeanization of political communication, meaning the extent to which mediated political communication deals directly or indirectly with the European Union.
Europeanization of media content refers to two central criteria: a) an increased focus on European themes and actors, and b) an evaluation of theses themes and actors from a non-nation state dominated point of view.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
According to such criteria, recent Danish studies have documented a significant level of overall Europeanization of Danish media at the level of media content, supplementing the Europeanization of political and administrative institutions such as parties, parliaments, ministries, agencies, and private organizations.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
How does the Europeanization manifest itself in the national Danish news media?
In my analyzes of EU-coverage in the Danish news media from 1991 to 2001, I found that throughout the ten-year-period a relatively large number of European issues are covered by the media, but more so by the press than by television.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
During ‘normal weeks’, 7 to 13 percent of all news items in the morning papers are connected to the EU, on television the number of EU news stories vary from just 3 percent to 9 percent.
I also found that even though there is a dominance of national actors in EU-coverage especially the Commission, but also the Counsel, are important actors in media coverage.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
More important, however, was the change in the way issues and actors are framed by the media.
In 1991 conflict between the Danish government and the EEC was the most prominent news frame. The conflict frame is the result of a nation-sate dominated news discourse that almost exclusively casts the EEC in the role of the ‘other’.
For this reason almost all European initiatives in 1991 were seen by the media as a threat to the harmony of Denmark as a sovereign nation state. In 1996 and especially in 2001 the conflict frame lost its dominance, and to a larger part the EU became accepted as an equal player in the game of politics.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
A content analysis of the 2004 European Elections shows that the elections received substantial coverage. Even though there are difficulties comparing the studies, the results indicate an increase in election coverage when compared to earlier studies.
Looking at the overall coverage the written press, the national telegram agency, and the two public service television stations had a total of 1.430 items concerning the EP election.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
Of the three large morning papers, Politiken, had the largest number of items covering the election.
More interestingly, the two Danish tabloids (B.T. and Ekstra Bladet) both covered the election extensively even though both papers traditionally write very little about the EU.
63 percent of the TV-coverage on the EP-election was generated by the long-standing public service station (DR 1), whereas TV 2, the more commercial of the two channels, only generated 37 percent of the coverage.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
There are two further indicators of a shift in the media evaluation of the importance of European Elections.
One was the large number of editorials that dealt directly with the election. In both Politiken and B.T., which was rather remarkable since the latter is a tabloid, there were nine editorials discussing the election. Some concerned the growing political importance of the Parliament, others encouraged voters to make use of their democratic right to go out and vote although European politics might be difficult to understand.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
Another sign of the media shift in evaluation was the tendency to discuss notions of democracy in a European perspective rather than a strict national perspective, as was commonly done in the findings of Ørsten (2004).
In 305 items out of a total of 1430 items there were manifest discussions in the texts concerning the nature of democracy as either European or purely national. In 86 percent of the items a European notion of democracy was evident, indicating that the national discourse found to be dominant by both Ørsten (2004) and Leroy and Siune (1994) is no longer the dominate way European issues are framed in the media.
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
Denmark as a best case?
Machill et. al (2006) find Europeanization strongest in Denmark, Netherlands and Germany
But also present in France, Spain and Austria
No Europeanization in Belgium, Italy, Ireland and GB
The Europeanization of the Danish news media
A result perhaps of the different media systems/media structures in Europe as suggested by Adam & Berkel (2006) and on a more general level by Hallin & Mancini (2004)?
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