The concept of a European public sphere, and the emergence of a transnational media within this space, has been the subject of debate in recent years, yet little attention has been given to investigating the functioning of the media that currently occupy this space. This article provides an empirically based insight into the organizational context within which transnational newspapers produce coverage of the European Union (EU). Material collected in interviews with journalists from four transnational newspapers (Wall Street Journal Europe, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times Europe and European Voice) is presented, and the way in which a range of internal and external factors shape transnational coverage of the EU is discussed. The findings suggest that as a consequence of the diverse range of approaches adopted by transnational newspapers, the EU remains unreported as a polity in its own right, and is predominantly covered from an external point of view.
Anderson, Peter J. and Anthony Weymouth (1999) Insulting the Public? The British Press and the European Union. Harlow: Longman.
2.
Baisnée, Olivier (2002) `Can Political Journalism Exist at the EU Level?' , in R. Kuhn and E. Neveu (eds) Political Journalism: New Challenges, New Practices, pp. 108-27. London: Routledge.
3.
Baisnée, Olivier (2007) `The European Public Sphere Does Not Exist (At Least It's Worth Wondering…)', European Journal of Communication22(4): 493-503.
4.
Collins, Richard. (1993) `Public Service Broadcasting by Satellite in Europe: Eurikon and Europa', Screen34(2): 162-75.
5.
Dawley, Heidi. (2004) `Whither the IHT? Interesting Question', URL (consulted March 2008): http://www.medialifemagazine.com//news2004/may04/may17/4_thurs/news4thursday.html
6.
de Vreese, Claus H. (2001) `"Europe" in the News. A Cross-National Comparative Study of the News Coverage of Key EU Events', European Union Politics2(3): 283-307.
7.
Donsbach, Wolfgang and Thomas E. Patterson (2005) `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, pp. 251-70. Cambridge: CUP.
8.
Firmstone, Julie (2003) `Britain in the Euro?'. British Newspaper Editorial Coverage of the Introduction of the Euro. Working Paper 5/03. University of Leeds: EurPolCom. URL (consulted March 2008): http://www.eurpolcom.eu/exhibits/paper5.pdf
9.
Firmstone, Julie (2004) `Final Case Report on Communication Strategies of the Media: EU Level', URL (consulted March 2008): http://europub.wzb.eu/data/reports/wp6/wp6%20cr/d6-2%20wp6%20cr%20eu.doc
10.
Firmstone, Julie (2007) `The Editorial Opinions of the British Press on European Integration', PhD Thesis, University of Leeds , Leeds.
11.
Firmstone, Julie (2008) `The Editorial Production Process and Editorial Values as Influences on the Opinions of the British Press towards Europe' , Journalism Practice2(2): 212-29.
12.
Firmstone, Julie (Forthcoming) `Influences on the Editorial Opinions of the British Press towards the EU', in A. Charles and J. Wilson (eds) Media in the Enlarged Europe. Bristol: Intellect .
13.
Gleissner, Martin and Claes H. de Vreese (2005) `News about the EU Constitution: Journalistic Challenges and Media Portrayal of the European Union Constitution' , Journalism6(2): 221-42.
14.
Heikkila, Heikki and Risto Kunelius (2006) `Journalists Imagining the European Public Sphere: Professional Discourses about EU News Practices in Ten Countries', Javnost: The Public13(4): 63-80.
15.
Kevin, Deidre (2003) Europe and the Media. London : Lawrence Erlbaum.
16.
Kunelius, Risto and Colin Sparks (2001) `Problems with a European Public Sphere: An Introduction' , Javnost: The Public8(2): 5-20.
17.
Machill, Marcel, Markus Beiler and Corinna Fischer (2005) `Europe-topics in Europe's Media: The Debate about the European Public Sphere: A Meta Analysis of Media Content Analyses', Paper presented at the Connex , Amsterdam.
18.
Meyer, Cristoph (1999) `Political Legitimacy and the Invisibility of Politics: Exploring the European Union's Communication Deficit', Journal of Common Market Studies37(4): 617-39.
19.
Morgan, David (1995) `British Media and European Union News: The Brussels Beat and its Problems', European Journal of Communication10(3): 321-43.
20.
Neidhardt, Friedhelm, Ruud Koopmans and Barbara Pfetsch (2000) `Konstitutio nsbedingungen politischer Öffentlichkeit: Der Fall Europa [Conditions for the Constitution of a European Public Sphere]', in H. D. Klingemann and F. Neidhardt (eds) Zur Zukunft der Demokratie. Herausforderungen im Zeitalter der Globalisierung , pp. 1-26. Berlin: Sigma.
21.
Neveu, Erik (2002) `Europe as an "Un-imaginable Community"? The Failure of the French News-magazine L'Europeen (March-July 1998)', Journal of European Area Studies10(2): 283-300.
22.
Pfetsch, Barbara, Silke Adam and Barbara Berkel (2008) `The Contribution of the Press to Europeanization of Public Debates: A Comparative Study of Issue Salience and Conflict Lines of European Integration', Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism9(4): 465-92.
23.
Schlesinger, Philip (1999) `Changing Spaces of Political Communication: The Case of the European Union', Political Communication16(3): 263-79.
24.
Schlesinger, Philip and Deidre Kevin (2000) `Can the European Union Become a Sphere of Publics' , in E. O. Eriksen and J. E. Fossum (eds) Democracy in the European Union - Integration through Deliberation, pp. 206-29. London: Routledge. Shoemaker, Pamela J. and Stephen Reese (1996) Mediating the Message, 2nd edn. White Plains, NY: Longman.
25.
Statham, Paul (2006) Political Journalism and Europeanization: Pressing Europe? Working Paper 13/06. University of Leeds: EurPolCom. URL (consulted March 2008): http://www.eurpolcom.eu/exhibits/paper_13.pdf
26.
Statham, Paul (2007) `Journalists as Commentators on European Politics: Educators, Partisans or Ideologues', European Journal of Communication22(4): 461-77.
27.
Statham, Paul (2008) `Making Europe News: How Journalists View their Role and Performance', Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism9(4): 398-422.
28.
Statham, Paul, Julie Firmstone and Emily Gray (2003) `Interview Questionnaire for Interviews with Journalists (Transnational or European Level Newspaper)', URL (consulted March 2008): http://europub.wz-berlin.de/codebooks.en.htm
29.
Trenz, Hans Jorg (2007) `Quo vadis Europe? Quality Newspapers Struggling for European Unity', in John Erik Fossum and Philip Schlesinger (eds) The European Union and the Public Sphere: A Communicative Space in the Making? , pp. 89-109. London: Routledge.
30.
Tumber, Howard (1995) `Marketing Maastricht: The EU and News Management', Media, Culture & Society17(3): 511-19.
31.
Ward, David (ed.) (2002) The European Union Democratic Deficit and the Public Sphere: An Evolution of EU Media Policy. Fairfax, VA: IOS Press.
