Euroopa avalikkus ja euroinfo Eestis
Kuupäev
2007
Autorid
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Tartu Ülikool
Abstrakt
Kirjeldus
This MA thesis titled European public sphere and emerging EU publics in Estonia is based in
the broader context of EU communication and focuses around the concept of European public
sphere (EPS). The most important theoretical concepts informing the empirical construction
are Koopmans’s Europeanization of national media and Taylor’s social imaginaries. So far
the literature and research on EPS focus on the role of media whereas this thesis also attempts
to bring in the different dispositions and resources of the audience for participating in the
EPS.
The empirical construction of this thesis assumes the following: 1) increased attention to EU
related news is a sign of Europeanization of media; 2) social imaginaries that are produced
and reproduced in public communication play an important role in constituting a EPS; 3) the
process of social differentiation requires that the media interpret various issues and
phenomena to wider audiences; 4) public spheres depend not only on media but also the
communicative actions of citizens; and therefore focuses on three objects of empirical
research – EU related media content, journalists’ perceptions of EU news and the audience’s
interest in EU news.
The main findings are as follows:
• The main sources of EU news are national dailies and public broadcast television,
more entertainment oriented media such as tabloid and commercial television
newscast have less EU content.
• EU is mentioned in the news often as just background, for example the argument of
Estonia as EU member is important in Estonia-Russian relationships related news
coverage
• Journalists perceive the audience as disinterested in EU news and politically passive,
which is one of the main obstacles for EU coverage.
• Journalists’ perceptions can be described as three different lines of thought – the
classical professional discourse which views the audience as politically active citizens
and focuses the EU coverage around national interest; the secular discourse which
views the audience as consumers and focuses the EU coverage around everyday
issues, especially practical and economic matters; the cosmopolitan discourse which
views EU topics from a transnational perspective and is to some extent characteristic
to Brussels correspondents.
• There are groups of different resources and dispositions among the audience who
might benefit from different styles of EU coverage.
• About 40% of Estonian audiences claim that they are interested in the EU. The three
dimensions that EU interest depends on are trust of public institutions, including trust
and positive attitudes towards EU; general interest in politics and other public affairs;
social and cultural resources such as personal contacts outside Estonia, use of new
media etc. The strongest predictors of EU interest are positive attitudes towards EU
and general interest in politics and other public affairs.
These empirical findings do not suggest a strong Europeanization of public sphere, but there
is clearly an emerging European dimension present in the public communication, which also
seems to be interesting and important to parts of the audience. The more the media
acknowledge Estonia in the context of EU, the more Estonian people will see themselves also
as European citizens. As suggested by Craig Calhoun (2003) - if Europe is not merely a place,
but a space in which distinctively European relations are forged and European visions of the
future enacted, then it depends on communication in public, as much as on distinctively
European culture, or political institutions, or economy, or social networks.
Märksõnad
H Social Sciences (General)