Although the continuing Euro Crisis is currently being overshadowed by the refugee crisis in Europe, its economic and political effects continue to shake the foundation of Europe and dampen national economies

Picard, Robert G.

LSE Research Online

Eurocrisis in thePress9/15/2015How Europe talks about itself: Lessons from the Euro Crisisblogs.lse.ac.uk /eurocrisispress/2015/09/15/how-europe-talks-about-itself-lessons-from-the-euro-crisis/By Robert G. PicardAlthough the continuing Euro Crisis is currently being overshadowed bythe refugee crisis in Europe, its economic and political effects continueto shake the foundation of Europe and dampen national economies.There are lessons to be learned from the way the Euro Crisis has beenportrayed about European institutions, how they responds to crises,and the state of European integration and identity. A new book, TheEuro Crisis in the Media: Journalistic Coverage of Economic Crisis andEuropean Institutions, provides those lessons. The book is based onresearch exploring how the Euro crisis was portrayed in the Europeanpress and the implications of that coverage on public understanding ofthe developments, their causes, the responsibilities for addressing thecrisis, the roles and effectiveness of European institutions, and theimplications for European integration and identity. These haveimplications for the ways Europeans talk about Europe and the issues itfaces.The most important findings from the study about the ways the EuroCrisis was portrayed are:1. It is someone else’s problemOverall the Euro Crisis has been portrayed as foreign story, rather thana European story or a domestic story. Even in countries with sovereigndebt challenges it was portrayed as a foreign story, though partly as a domestic story. The framing of stories inmedia asserted others as the cause of the crisis and thus shifted the problem to others to solve. It was not talkedabout as a common problem needing common solutions.2. News media do not cover EuropeEuro Crisis news was framed within national narratives about the crisis and based on domestic concerns, nationalinterests, and domestic predispositions toward the European Union. The coverage did not cover Europe, but whatEuropean developments meant to national audiences. It did not employ a broader European perspective on theissue that considered it as a European challenge requiring a European solution.3. The crisis was portrayed as non-politicalAcross Europe it was portrayed as a financial and economic issue rather than a political issue. Most coverageoccurred in business sections and business papers and the primary sources quoted were national governmentleaders and bankers/economists. Because it was not portrayed as a political crisis, the problem and solutions werethus not subject to considerable political debate and citizen’s interests were downplayed. Few leaders of politicalparties and civil society organizations were quoted in the press so they could not raise political issues surround thecrisis and very little coverage reflected the impact of the crisis on people and small businesses. Discussion ofEuropean issues as specialised and non-political creates an environment in which citizen engagement withEuropean issues is reduced.1/24. Reporting does not well explain the European institutions, their functions, and abilitiesDuring the Euro Crisis news coverage did not explore the mechanisms and consequences of the Euro system, thepowers of European institutions, and the ability for European responses. Coverage portrayed of Europeaninstitutions as important to the crisis, but as providing an ineffectual response. Discussion of the issues in this waypushed European institutions to the periphery of solution finding and supported the ad hoc responses of countriessuch as Germany and France in solving European issues. This does not tie citizens closer to Europe or convey aunited European leadership.5. A secondary European identity is emerging and the public wants European institutions to be effectiveDespite defining their coverage and readers in national terms, news coverage across Europe did convey thepresence of a secondary European identity and that the Euro Crisis posed some European challenges. Citizen’strust in the effectiveness of the European institutions was shown to align with their national press portrayals of thoseinstitutions. Nevertheless, even though trust was declining or low overall, the average European citizen wanted theEuropean institutions to provide leadership and answers to the Euro Crisis.These lessons show that the press in European countries produces a discourse in which European identity andinstitutions are deemphasized and devalued, despite evidence that there is a desire for Europe to be more engagedand effective in solving cross-national issues. Although the study focused on Euro Crisis news, it has significantimplications for the development of European governance and how future European issues might be covered.The book is based on a research project at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University ofOxford, integrating researchers at universities across Europe. It is based on reviewing more than 10,000 articlespublished in 10 European countries (Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Spain,and the United Kingdom). Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of the Euro Crisis in the Press blog nor of theLondon School of Economics___________________________________________________________________Professor Robert G. Picard is a world-leading specialist on media economics and government media policies. Heis the author and editor of 28 books, and has been editor of the Journal of Media Business Studies and the Journalof Media Economics.___________________________________________________________________Related articles on LSE Euro Crisis in the Press:Eurosceptics at a Junction: Antagonising the EU for the Sake of it is RiskyGod in Berlin, Newton in Brussels: On the Power of Linguistic Images in the Eurozone CrisisEurope’s Gravest Threat: Doctrines DivergedThe Crises in the Eurozone and Ukraine Have Heralded the ‘Return of Politics’ to European Integration2/2

How Europe talks about itself: Lessons from the Euro Crisis

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