Author(s): Aušra Vinciūnienė,Auksė Balčytienė / Language(s): Lithuanian
Issue: 36/2006
The overall objective of this article is to investigate
the media’s impact on the European public sphere
with regard to actors (persons and institutions on both
European and national levels) mechanisms. In the centre
of attention is the question how the mass media
manage and produce EU coverage and assessment in
the context of different journalistic and editorial cultures,
standards and ethical considerations in Europe.
Comparative studies are performed on multiple
levels. Firstly, the news agenda is clarified on a fixed
research period (3 weeks during March 2005) from
the selected media of 10 participant countries of
AIM (Adequate Information Management in Europe)
project. Three types of media were assessed,
namely (1) national, regional and tabloid dailies, (2)
newscasts from public service and commercial TV
stations, and (3) (only in some countries) news agency
material.
Results from comparative study show that, generally,
national newspapers heavily invest in EU reporting
(Germany, Italy, Ireland). Only in some
countries (Lithuania, Norway) regional press is equally
active as the national. In all 10 countries very
few EU issues are printed in tabloid press (with
exception in Great Britain). As a tradition, public
service broadcaster outperforms commercial stations
in regard of EU reporting.
It is no surprise that economic and financial issues
receive very high attention from the media.
Also, it is little surprise that this type of news (economy)
has very text-based approach of news presentation.
This result gives a hint that EU reporting is
“faceless”, it provides little background information,
therefore it is not very well received by the audience.
Next step in comparative research study is to concentrate
on qualitative analysis of news-making processes
in order to gain knowledge and understanding
of both internal (newsroom organization, sources that
are used by journalists, etc.) and external (communication
with audiences and political actors) factors.
For this purpose, 15 people will be interviewed in
each participating country. It is agreed that respondents
will be selected of middle management positions,
such as duty/deputy editors, or directors of
political or economy news departments, and reporters.
The decision-making will be assessed in conventional
(print, broadcast) and online-only media,
as well as news agencies. This will help to understand
routines and procedures as manifested in EU
reporting.
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