European Public Sphere. The Transnationalization of the Public Sphere using the Example of the EU: Citizens' Reactions

• Duration: 2011 – 2014
• Project lead: Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp

Research network/cooperation: Sub-project of the DFG Collaborative Research Center 597 ‘Statehood in Transition’ at the University of Bremen

Project management: Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp (ZeMKI-Lab “Mediatization and Globalization”)

Project staff: Dr. Swantje Lingenberg, Dipl.-Pol. Johanna Möller, Dr. Anke Offerhaus, Anne Mollen, Monika Elsler

The comparative analysis of the reporting of national newspapers in six European countries (A, D, DK, F, GB, PL) shows a transnationalization of the public sphere, which, however, remains segmented nationally and according to newspaper type. In the second phase of this communication science sub-project, the multiple segmentation of the European public sphere was explained by the inertia of different political discourse cultures. In the third phase (2011-2014), the reactions of citizens to the multi-segmented European public sphere were examined. Qualitative interviews, media diaries, citizens’ contributions in the press and on the Internet as well as secondary evaluations of standardized media usage data were used to investigate the (possibly deficient) communicative connection of citizens to a European public sphere as well as political identification with this public sphere, participation in it and the resulting understanding of legitimacy. Such an examination of media use and media appropriation allowed a conclusive, qualitatively differentiated assessment of the transnationalization of the public sphere in Europe.

At the same time, the analysis of newspaper reporting was continued in the third phase and expanded to include an event analysis. This made it possible to examine whether and to what extent the global financial and economic crisis of 2008/9 marked a lasting turning point in the transnationalization of the political public sphere in Europe, for example because the EU’s gains in competence as a supranational institution were called into question or strengthened. The combination of a crisis event analysis with the continuation of the longitudinal analysis of content made it possible to finally assess the long-term stability of the multi-segmented transnationalization of the public sphere.