2009. aasta Euroopa Parlamendi valimiste meediakajastus: Eesti rahvusvahelises võrdluses
Date
2010
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
These Bachelor thesis titled The European Parliamentary Elections Media Coverage: Estonia in international comparison is a part of the pan-European overview (Media Content Analysis European Election Study 2009) of the campaign coverage based on a content analysis of three national newspapers and two television newscasts in the three weeks before the elections. To achieve the whole Estonian coverage one more Estonian newspaper Eesti Päevaleht is also included in this paper.
As the resent studies show the average support for the membership of the EU is higher than ever, however the level of attachment has fallen and citizens of the EU do not feel attached to EU. Media plays a crucial role to mediate the European dimension to the public, raise the awareness of EU`s policies etc and gives an opportunity to create solidarity.
The aim of the thesis was to find out whether the main topics of Estonian coverage regarding European Union and European Parliamentary elections could strengthen or weaken the emergence of European public sphere. Also the visibility and importance in the overall news flow. In order to place Estonian coverage in the wider context the paper also compares different country coverages regarding EU topics.
The theoretical concept is giving an overview of the different theoretical approaches about the nature of the European public sphere and its emergence. It relies on two main convergences to the public sphere. One represented by Risse who believes the European public sphere can only be accomplished on transnational level. The other by Koopmans who believes the EPS appears when national public spheres transform Europeanized.
The study found out that the Estonian news coverage about European Parliamentary elections was visible, almost one fourth of all articles were about EU or EP elections. The difference appeared in television coverage where visibility was higher in public broadcasting than on commercial. While most of election or EU stories where short and during the overall coverage period in the quantity of stories there were no culmination point.
The choice of topics in Estonian coverage puts a reflecting emphasis on the elections as a newsworthy event. Dominated topics were about domestic campaign and a wider debate about European topics was more humble. Unlike in the AIM research the EU position in the news has changed a bit and it is more often the main topic of the news story, not just mentioned as a second and third topic or background. Yet the EU topics are still seen through domestic viewpoint and European dimension is secondary.
Alike in Estonia, in other European countries the topics related to EU and/or EP elections are primarily elections- and campaign- related topics. Unlike in 2004 elections the coverage visibility did show the difference between old and new member states. And it was not possible to distinguish certain country groups according to EU topics. On the basis of campaign coverage four groups were formed. Estonia, together with different other EU countries fitted into second one, which focused on campaign coverage and different European policies.
While these Bachelor thesis is only focusing on topics regarding EU and EP elections coverage the further investigation should deepen into comparison of different outlets and mediums to bring out the differences.
Keywords
bakalaureusetööd, poliitiline kommunikatsioon, valimised, avalikkus, meedia, uudised, Euroopa Parlament, Euroopa Liit, Eesti