Johanna Möller

Approaching the Communicative Construction of Europe: Cultures of Political Discourse, European Public Sphere and the Euro Crisis

In this chapter, we outline a communicative constructivist perspective on the European public sphere, Europe and the EU. As already emphasised in the introduction, this perspective does not mean that we reduce Europe and the EU to a semiotic phenomenon. Other processes of social construction are also taking place and are of great importance. Beyond any reductionism, the idea of communicative constructivism proposes that the everyday meaning of a European society is articulated in ongoing processes of communication. These communication processes are increasingly mediatised: mediated by and related to the institutions and technologies of the media, and also moulded by them. Furthermore, communication processes such as these are rooted in different cultures of political discourse: the culture producing a certain kind of political discourse, both national and transnational. The latter involves the various transnational cultural patterns of media communication which mark the transnational stratification of an emerging European society. We also suggest that something like a European culture of political discourse emerges. Considered in a long-term perspective, the euro crisis seems to be not so much a collapse of the communicative construction of Europe, but a potential ‘tipping point’ (Eder 2014: 221) in the practice of communicative construction. It has been observed that the euro crisis has brought about a ‘politicisation’ (Risse 2015b: 3) of the European public sphere: a general shift to a public sphere in which more citizens find their voice.

Cultures of Political Discourse in Europe: Explaining Multiple Segmentation in the European Public Sphere

The possible development of a European public sphere is a special challenge for research on transformations of the state in Europe. Undoubtedly, the supranational regime of the European Union (EU) is a major expression of the transformations of the state and the transnationalization of politics in Europe. Current political theory argues that supranational institutions are faced with various legitimation problems (Habermas 2009a; Scharpf 2009). In addition to elections, a functioning ‘public sphere’ is often seen as a prerequisite of political legitimacy.

Ein Beschreibungs- und Erklärungsansatz: Transnationale Öffentlichkeit und politische Diskurskulturen in Europa

Wie wir bereits in der Einleitung formuliert haben, sind wir bei unserer Untersuchung einer entstehenden europaischen Offentlichkeit und der Erklarung ihrer Mehrfachsegmentierung mit einem komplexen Phanomen konfrontiert: Eine europaische Offentlichkeit kann nicht einfach verstanden werden als eine ‚grosere‛ nationale Offentlichkeit. Auch die Einbettung einer europaischen Offentlichkeit in politische Diskurskulturen ist vielschichtig. Hier gilt es, neben Momenten nationaler Kultur transnationale kulturelle Muster zu erfassen. Notwendig ist fur unsere Untersuchung also ein Beschreibungs- und Erklarungsansatz, der einerseits einen analytisch handhabbaren Begriffsapparat bildet, andererseits aber den zu untersuchenden Phanomenbereich nicht von vornherein auf wenige Vorannahmen reduziert. Einen solchen Beschreibungs- und Erklarungsansatz wollen wir im Folgenden mit dem Begriff der politischen Diskurskultur entwickeln.

Can digitisation help overcome linguistic and strategic disadvantages in international media markets? : Exploring cross-border business opportunities for German-language media companies

The media economy and production literature offers insights into the international activities of media companies that provide products in ‘world languages’. Researchers point out that English-language content and, thus, English-language companies have a linguistic advantage and dominate the global media market. In comparison, there is limited knowledge of how companies that originate from non-dominant-language territories expand their activities abroad. This is all the more relevant as digitisation and fragmentation transform markets and new business opportunities arise. Against this background, we ask whether media companies from non-dominant-language markets can benefit from new constellations and business models to overcome linguistic and strategic disadvantages. We use the example of German-language media companies to explore whether and how digitisation and, to some extent, fragmentation mediate the cross-border activities of non-dominant-language media companies. Using qualitative interviews with top media managers, we address their market perceptions and strategies regarding cross-border activities. In sum, market hierarchies remain persistent, as new challenges, such as portfolio redefinition and rising competition, emerge. However, companies focusing on generic products or niche markets can benefit from digitisation, as can companies that have already grew large and overcome their linguistic constraints.

Conclusion: The Contested Communicative Construction of Europe

In this conclusion, we will now tie the overall argumentation together. We present some general reflections on the present status of what we have called the communicative construction of Europe. Europe signifies the emergent European society with the EU as its political institution. As shown in chapter 2, we do not want to reduce Europe and the EU to a semiotic phenomenon by emphasising the aspect of communicative construction. By contrast, communicative construction has to be understood as one aspect of a multidimensional process of social construction. It is however a highly important aspect: When it comes to making sense and constructing the meaning of Europe and the EU, this is articulated in communication processes. We have shown the patterns of these processes through our long-term empirical research, combining a variety of social science methods at different levels of analysis: newspaper analysis over 30 years, newsroom studies, an analysis of online interaction in internet forums and audience studies. This research involves six countries studied with a transcultural perspective: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom.

Representing Europe in the Press: The Multi-segmented European Public Sphere

In this chapter, we focus on a specific mode of communicative construction: the European public sphere as constructed in newspaper coverage. Like in other mass media, public communication in and through the press is considered to be a sine qua non of a European public sphere, given the ongoing political integration of Europe and early discussion of the EU’s democratic and public deficit during the 1990s (Gerhards 1993). Analysing the European public sphere, based on the content of mass media, involves empirical investigation of the manner in which, and extent to which, the EU and Europe are dealt with in different media, and assessing the reach of transnational communication within and across these media.

Appropriating Europe: Communication Repertoires, Citizens’ European Public Connections and the Euro Crisis

In the previous chapters, we have discussed processes of communicatively constructing Europe with regard to journalistic production, media coverage and the interaction in online forums. We demonstrated that the multi-segmented European public sphere is rooted in different cultures of political discourse and that the related public sphere is characterised by a certain stability, even during the euro crisis. This chapter adds to this by investigating citizens’ public connections with Europe and the EU. We will here focus on their media appropriation and their related involvement with the process of communicatively constructing Europe. Two research questions will be addressed: How do citizens approach Europe and the EU; and how are these approaches challenged within the context of the euro crisis? To answer these research questions, we carried out an audience study based on qualitative interviews, network maps and media diaries from a sample of 182 Austrian, Danish, French, German, British and Polish citizens (see the appendix for a detailed description of our methodology).

Challenging Europe: Understanding and Solving the Euro Crisis

Having in the previous chapter explored how citizens in Europe are connected to the European public sphere and how they are involved in the process of the communicative construction of Europe, we now focus on the euro crisis as a specific moment of activation. We ask how a legitimate Europe is constructed in the citizens’ perspective on the euro crisis. As we have already seen, the euro crisis represents a meaningful moment for European citizens, provoking significant changes in their communicative practices and thereby activating hitherto established forms of public connection (cf. chapter 6). The euro crisis is a potential moment of challenge for public connections, because citizens begin to question and re-negotiate the legitimacy of the EU. We argue that the euro crisis does not represent a serious risk for the European public sphere and its legitimacy but, in contrast, mobilises communicative constructions. It becomes a reason to discuss and reflect on the process of the communicative construction of Europe with respect to its legitimacy.

Citizens’ Online Engagement: The Euro Crisis in Online Forums

As we have seen, the euro crisis did not lead to a collapse of the European public sphere in our six research countries, at least not in the sense of either an increase or a decrease in reporting on European issues. However, as we will show in this and the following chapters, people across Europe do perceive the euro crisis as a major issue in their connection to a European public sphere. And so the question remains of what exactly happens in a situation like the euro crisis (cf. our definition in chapter 2). In this context, Klaus Eder reminds us that a ‘[c]risis is more than the discourse about it: It is a social process’ (Eder 2014: 221). Focusing on crisis-related social processes necessitates a shift to the level of citizens and to their perceptions of the euro crisis.

Journalistic Practices: National and European Cultures of Political Discourse

As we have argued in the previous chapter, we consider the concept of cultures of political discourse helpful to understand the multi-segmentation of the European public sphere. By applying this concept to our analysis of the communicative construction of Europe and the emergence of a European public sphere, we assume that the multi-segmented European public sphere is shaped by different cultures of political discourse in Europe. Aiming at understanding the communicative construction of Europe within and across various European countries, our empirical analysis first of all focuses on journalistic production practices related to EU political issues. Our main argument is that journalists in their everyday work practice continuously re-articulate cultures of political discourse — national as well as transnational — so that differences between them become concrete in the ways journalists handle Europe and the EU.