scholarly journals Institutional organizations’ use of social media to communicate EU policy and the emergence of a European public sphere

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 111-129
Author(s):  
Luca Pareschi ◽  
Edoardo Mollona ◽  
Vitaliano Barberio ◽  
Ines Kuric
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cohesion Policy ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
The Eu

Cohesion Policy accounts for the European Union main investment budget and seeks to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion. While accomplishments in this field are constantly measured, European citizens are not always aware of policy’s impact and of the role the EU plays therein. This issue is relevant, as communication of social policy is central to the emergence of the European public sphere, an acknowledged condition to foster European integration.In this work we aim at advancing research on the European public sphere through an analysis of the social media communication of EU cohesion policy by ten LMAs. We build on a bottom-up construction of shared meaning structures through semi-automatic techniques of analysis and highlight three main results: first, ‘horizontal Europeanization’ takes place on social media; second, Europeanization occurs both as the spontaneous integration of shared discontent expressed by citizens, and by the institutionalization of top-down procedures of communication adopted by LMAs; Third, a cluster of topics articulated internationally and conveying a negative attitude towards the EU funding scheme suggests that, counter-intuitively, Euroskepticism seems to facilitate the building of a European public sphere.

scholarly journals German Quality in the Service of a European Public Sphere? An Analysis of the Deutsche Welle’s European Journal program

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Oana Ludmila Popescu
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Communication Link ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Dimension ◽  
European Public ◽  
Tv Program ◽  
The Media ◽  
Deutsche Welle ◽  
The Eu

<p>The economic crisis of the European Union has rendered the European public sphere as a forever emerging concept marked by uncertainties regarding its structure. In this context, eyes of both European officials and citizens turn towards the media, the main communication link between the EU and its citizens. The present paper looks at a media product that is designed to permeate multiple national public spheres, the weekly news show <em>European Journal</em>, a half-hour TV program produced by Deutsche Welle and rebroadcast by partner TV channels throughout Europe. Considering the main characteristics of the European public sphere as identified in the literature, with a focus on <em>horizontal Europeanization, </em>and using the method of content analysis, this paper looks at the means employed by the European Journal to support the integration process and to add a European dimension to national public sphere. Findings suggest that the type of public sphere promoted by the <em>European Journal </em>is not centered around the EU as a distinct entity, but around the member states, approach which supports the idea of a <em>horizontal Europeanization</em>.</p>

Facing Democratic Crisis in the EU: the New European Citizens’ Initiative Regulation

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-147
Author(s):  
Diego González Cadenas
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
Popular Initiative ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis ◽  
The Eu

For some scholars, the possibilities for diminishing the European democratic deficit and the Union’s legitimacy crisis are intertwined with the creation of a European demos and a European public sphere, that, in turn, can create a European civil solidarity. The European citizens’ initiative, which has recently been re-regulated, was precisely designed to help to solve these problems. As we shall see, the new Regulation includes a whole series of positive technical issues that will improve the usage of the mechanism. However, the European citizens’ initiative is still far from being a popular initiative and, therefore, to contribute to diminish the perception of distance between institutions and citizens of the EU or promoting the creation of a European demos. In this vein, after an overview of the European citizens’ initiative new Regulation main innovations and weaknesses, I will present a set of measures in order to achieve a more effective development of the mechanism.

scholarly journals Critical perspectives on migration in discourse and communication: An introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitris Serafis ◽  
Jolanta Drzewiecka ◽  
Sara Greco
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
European Public ◽  
The Media

While these lines were written, Taliban were conquering Afghanistan, establishing a regime of terror in the country, while concurrently provoking a wide conflict in the Western public sphere about responsibilities and consequences of this situation. More specifically, Europe witnesses a racist and xenophobic wave of discourses against a new possible escape of refugees toward Europe; presently such discourses abound in politics and the media. It is more than a truism nowadays that, in crisis-stricken Europe, there is an increasing politicization of migration, which takes place against the background and mutual overlapping of diverse crises. More specifically, migration has become a focal and quite polarizing issue in the European public sphere especially since the numbers of refugees, escaping from conflict territories of the Middle East (e. g., Syria), crossing the Mediterranean, dramatically increased starting in 2014 (Bevelander & Wodak, 2019a). The so-called “refugee crisis,” as this movement was portrayed by mainstream media and powerful political figures in Europe (Krzyżanowski, Triandafyllidou, & Wodak, 2018), contributed to social and economic tensions (such as the Eurozone “debt crisis”) that took place in the European Union and played into Brexit that followed.

scholarly journals Islam's increased visibility in the European public sphere

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 68-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didem Doganyilmaz Duman
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public

It is believed that the massive flow of refugees and dramatically increased asylum applications from Muslim societies to member countries of the European Union will cause significant change in the demographic characteristics of those countries. Although the presence of Muslims is not a recent phenomenon in Europe, their increased visibility has become once again a dominant political discourse for right-wing political parties. The important question is whether the Muslim presence has become a component of the post-truth politics of the political leaders of these parties, or whether it constitutes a real threat to European society. Does the European Union, then, face a real crisis? If so, what is the nature of the crisis – is it a refugee crisis, an identity crisis, or even worse, is it a crisis of tolerance? This paper analyses the political atmosphere and its effects on society in terms of an increased visibility of Muslims and Islamic symbols in the European public sphere in order to answer those questions.

scholarly journals Has COVID-19 promoted or discouraged a European Public Sphere? Comparative analysis of the Twitter interactions of German, French, Italian and Spanish MEPSs during the pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-151
Author(s):  
Jorge Tuñón-Navarro ◽  
Uxía Carral-Vilar
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Total N ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public

This comparative research analyses the political discussion through social media of the top list German, French, Italian and Spanish Members of the European Parliament during COVID-19 crisis times. Through content analysis, the article focuses on Twitter behaviours during a pandemic crisis period (March 23 to April 23, 2020). The study that analyses up to 14 (first listed MEPs) Twitter accounts and a total N of 2101 tweets looks at clarifying if the COVID-19 pandemic has promoted or discouraged the growth of a European Public Sphere. The results show that audience involvement depended on certain online conducts of the MEP rather than on his or her constant activity. Those behaviours produced as well that the COVID-19 debate was mostly restricted to the political elite, who neither allow European civil society to take part in the discussion or communicate to the general public with the aim of shaping a European Public Sphere.

scholarly journals An Appropriate Set of Skills for Limiting the Spread of Fake News

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-80
Author(s):  
Nicoleta Acomi ◽  
Luis Ochoa Siguencia ◽  
Ovidiu Acomi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
Analytical Skills ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Social Media Communication ◽  
The Eu

The diversity of news distributed via social media communication channels exposes citizens to large scale disinformation including misleading and false information. In this context of the massive use of social media and considering the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 with regards to democracy, there is a strong need for analytical skills. The main problem is the reduced level of commitment of people to evaluate social media news and to develop the proper analytical skills. This paper aims at exemplifying the utility of conducting survey-based primary research for identifying the most appropriate analytical skills for dealing with fake news. The research method consists of establishing and distributing a questionnaire targeting various categories of people. Feedback was collected through an online survey in 2020. The questionnaire included category questions aiming at analysing the responses from the age, youth category and time spent online perspective. This approach is thought to provide data of sufficient quality and quantity to meet the objective of identifying the most appropriate analytical skills for dealing with fake news. The results of this study emphasize the views of respondents with regards to fake news approach, the extent to which various categories of people are checking the news before sharing, as well as the preferred criteria used for verifying the correctness of the news from social media. Based on the analysis of the results, the author proposed a set of solutions to empower youth to evaluate fake news and to detect disinformation campaigns across social networks.

Conflicts and negotiations about framings of gender equality and diversity by political actors within the European public sphere

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birte Siim
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public ◽  
Transnational Space ◽  
Globalized World ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Equality And Diversity

This article addresses conflicts and negotiations about gender equality and diversity within the European public sphere (EPS). It aims to explore the specific constraints and possibilities for realizing gender equality and justice from the transnational European context. Research illustrates that the European Union (EU) approach to gender equality has strengthened the transnational space of mobilization and given actors new possibilities to negotiate about multiple inequalities and direct their claims at different levels. This has at the same time led to a diversification of women's claims and conflicts about the meanings and framings of gender equality and diversity within the EPS. This is illustrated by case studies of the framing of gender equality and ethno-national diversity by political actors in the European Women's Lobby and the European Parliament. The article proposes that the multilevel EU polity can be interpreted as a unique case for reframing justice in a globalized world.

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