Presenting new data for a large-scale longitudinal content analysis of newspapers in six European countries between 1982 and 2008, the article explores what has previously been described as the process of ‘segmented Europeanization’ of national public spheres. Expanding on the theoretical concept of political discourse cultures, the article tests the explanatory power of national and editorial political discourse cultures on the degree of Europeanization of national public spheres. The analysis reveals the persistent stability of the pattern of ‘segmented Europeanization’ in which national public spheres increase their monitoring of Brussels but not their efforts to connect with other European countries. Still, the revealed national differences pale compared to the transnational gulf existing between quality and tabloid newspapers which may ultimately represent a far greater threat to the legitimacy of the European Union than the persistent lack of discursive exchange among the European community of nations.
AdamS (2008) Do mass media portray Europe as a community? German and French debates on EU enlargement and a common constitution. Javnost/The Public15(1): 91–112.
2.
AIM Research Consortium (2006) Understanding the LOGIC of EU Reporting in Mass Media. Analysis of EU Media Coverage and Interviews in Editorial Offices in Europe. Bochum, Freiburg: Projektverlag.
3.
BerkelB (2006) Political parallelism in news and commentaries on the Haider conflict: A comparative analysis of Austrian, British, German and French quality newspapers. Communications31(2): 85–104.
4.
BoomgaardenHGVliegenthartRde VreeseCHSchuckAT (2010) News on the move: Exogenous events and news coverage of the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy17(4): 506–526.
5.
BrüggemannMKleinen-von KönigslöwK (2009) ‘Let’s talk about Europe’: Why Europeanization shows a different face in different newspapers. European Journal of Communication24(1): 27–48.
6.
BrüggemannMSchulz-ForbergH (2009) Becoming pan-European? Transnational media and the European public sphere. International Communication Gazette71(8): 693–712.
7.
CohenJ (1997) Deliberation and democratic legitimacy. In: BohmanJRehgW (eds) Deliberative Democracy: Essays on Reason and Politics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 67–92.
8.
DahlgrenP (2005) The internet, public spheres, and political communication: Dispersion and deliberation. Political Communication22: 147–162.
9.
D’HaenensL (2005) Euro-vision: The portrayal of Europe in the quality press. Gazette: The International Journal of Communication Studies67(5): 419–440.
10.
De VreeseCH (2001) Frames in television news: British, Danish, and Dutch television news coverage of the introduction of the euro. In: HjarvardS (ed.) News in a Globalized Society. Gothenburg: Nordicom, pp. 179–196.
11.
De VreeseCH (2007) The EU as a public sphere. Living Reviews in European Governance2(3): 4–20.
12.
FerreeMMGamsonWAGerhardsJRuchtD (2002) Four models of the public sphere in modern democracies. Theory and Society31(3): 289–324.
13.
GerhardsJ (2001) Missing a European public sphere. In: KohliMNovakM (eds) Will Europe Work? Integration, Employment and the Social Order. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 145–158.
14.
GripsrudJ (1992) The aesthetics and politics of melodrama. In: DahlgrenPSparksC (eds) Journalism and Popular Culture. London: Sage, pp. 84–95.
15.
HabermasJ (1997) Between Facts and Norms. Cambridge: Polity Press.
16.
HabermasJ (1998) The Inclusion of the Other: Studies in Political Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
17.
HabermasJ (2009) Europe: The Faltering Project. Oxford: Polity.
18.
HallinDCManciniP (2004) Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
19.
HeppAWesslerH (2009) Politische Diskurskulturen: Überlegungen zur empirischen Erklärung segmentierter europäischer Öffentlichkeit. Medien und Kommunikationswissenschaft57(2): 174–197.
20.
HeppAMöllerJ,Kleinen-von KönigslöwK. (2009) Political discourse cultures in Europe: Explaining the multi-segmentation of the European public sphere through a transnational and transcultural perspective. In: CarpentierNPruulmann-VengerfeldtPKilbornR et al. (eds) Communicative Approaches to Politics and Ethics in Europe: The Intellectual Work of the 2009 ECREA European Media and Communication Doctoral Summer School. Tartu: Tartu University Press, pp. 45–58.
21.
KantnerC (2006) Die thematische Verschränkung nationaler Öffentlichkeiten in Europa und die Qualität transnationaler politischer Kommunikation. In: ImhofKBlumR,BonfadelliH. (eds) Demokratie in der Mediengesellschaft. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp. 145–160.
22.
Kleinen-von KönigslöwK (2010) Europe for the people? The Europeanization of public spheres in the tabloid press. In: TrefásDLuchtJ (eds) Europe on Trial: Shortcomings of the EU with regard to Democracy, Public Sphere and Identity. Innsbruck et al.: Studienverlag/Transaction, pp. 44–60.
23.
Kleinen-von KönigslöwK (2011) Media and the European public sphere: Common misconceptions and shared conclusions on the representations of the EU and Europe. In: LodgeJSarikakisK (eds) Communication, Mediation and Culture in the Making of Europe. Bologna: Il Mulino, pp. 41–62.
24.
Kleinen-von KönigslöwKMöllerJ (2009) Nationalisierte Europäisierung. Die Entwicklung der polnischen Medienöffentlichkeit nach 1989. Nordost-Archiv. Zeitschrift für Regionalgeschichte18: 219–234.
25.
KoopmansRStathamP (eds) (2010) The Making of a European Public Sphere: Media Discourse and Political Contention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
26.
KoopmansRErbeJMeyerMF (2010) The Europeanization of public spheres: Comparison across issues, time, and countries. In: KoopmansRStathamP (eds) The Making of a European Public Sphere: Media Discourse and Political Contention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 63–96.
27.
LiebertU (ed.) (2007) Europe in contention: Debating the constitutional treaty. Special issue ofPerspectives on European Politics and Society8(3).
28.
MachillMBeilerMFischerC (2006) Europe-topics in Europe’s media. The debate about the European public sphere: A meta-analysis of media content analysis. European Journal of Communication21(1): 57–88.
29.
PetersB (2005) Public discourse, identity and the problem of democratic legitimacy. In: EriksenEO (ed.) Making the European Polity: Reflexive Integration in the EU. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 84–123.
30.
PetersB (2008) Public Deliberation and Public Culture: Theoretical and Empirical Writings 1993–2006, ed. H Wessler, with a preface by J Habermas. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
31.
PfetschBAdamSBerkelB (2008) The contribution of the press to Europeanization of public debates: A comparative study of issue salience and conflict lines of European integration. Journalism9(4): 465–492.
32.
RisseT (2010) A Community of Europeans? Transnational Identities and Public Spheres. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press.
33.
SifftSBrüggemannMKleinen-von KönigslöwK. (2007) Segmented Europeanization: Exploring the legitimacy of the European Union from a public discourse perspective. Journal of Common Market Studies45(1): 127–155.
34.
SparksC (2000) Introduction: The panic over tabloid news. In: SparksCTullochJ (eds) Tabloid Tales: Global Debates over Media Standards. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 1–40.
35.
ToblerS (2010) The Europeanization of national public spheres or domestication of the European Union in national discourses. In: TréfasDLuchtJ (eds) Europe on Trial: Shortcomings of the EU with regard to Democracy, Public Sphere, and Identity. Innsbruck et al.: Studienverlag/Transaction, pp. 61–83.
36.
TréfasDLuchtJ (eds) (2010) Europe on Trial: Shortcomings of the EU with regard to Democracy, Public Sphere, and Identity. Innsbruck et al.: Studienverlag/Transaction.
37.
TrenzH-J (2004) Media coverage on European governance: Exploring the European public sphere in national quality newspapers. European Journal of Communication19(3): 291–319.
38.
TriandafyllidouAWodakRKrzyzanowskiM (2009) The European Public Sphere and the Media: Europe in Crisis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
39.
Van de SteegM (2006) Does a public sphere exist in the European Union? An analysis of the content of the debate on the Haider case. European Journal of Political Research45(4): 609–634.
40.
VettersRJentgesETrenzH-J (2006) Exploring the EU’s social constituency: Patterns of public claims-making in constitutional debates in France and Germany. ARENA Working Paper 18.
41.
VoltmerKEildersC (2003) The media agenda: The marginalization and domestication of Europe. In: DysonKGoetzKH (eds) Germany, Europe and the Politics of Constraint. Proceedings of the British Academy119: 73–197.
42.
WesslerHPetersB,BrüggemannM. (2008) Transnationalization of Public Spheres. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
