Rachid Azrout

Across time and space: Explaining variation in news coverage of the European Union

News about the European Union (EU) looks different in different countries at different points in time. This study investigates explanations for cross-national and over-time variation in news media coverage of EU affairs drawing on large-scale media content analyses of newspapers and television news in the EU-15 (1999), EU-25 (2004) and EU-27 (2009) in relation to European Parliament (EP) elections. The analyses focus in particular on explanatory factors pertaining to media characteristics and the political elites. Results show that national elites play an important role for the coverage of EU matters during EP election campaigns. The more strongly national parties are divided about the EU in combination with overall more negative positions towards the EU, the more visible the news. Also, increases in EU news visibility from one election to the next and the Europeanness of the news are determined by a countrys elite positions. The findings are discussed in light of the EUs alleged communication deficit.

Explaining Campaign News Coverage: How Medium, Time, and Context Explain Variation in the Media Framing of the 2009 European Parliamentary Elections

It is an open question why news media cover political campaigns the way they do. Framing elections in terms of conflict or strategy or focusing on horse-race framing and the role media and journalists themselves play in elections is commonplace, but this study investigates the factors that explain the variation in campaign news coverage. The context of our study is the 2009 European Parliamentary elections, and we use a cross-national media content analysis (N = 52,009) conducted in all 27 European Union member states. Findings show that time, country, and media characteristics all matter in explaining the way news media frame elections, however, to different extents and with different emphasis. Especially the variation in conflict framing is contingent upon the medium, the electoral system, and public aversion against the EU. We conclude with a discussion of our findings in the light of the ongoing debate on the role and impact of media framing during election campaigns.

Talking Turkey: anti-immigrant attitudes and their effect on support for Turkish membership of the EU

Recent studies have shown that the most important factor explaining opinions on European Union issues is attitudes towards immigrants. Two arguments are given to explain this effect. We contend that these arguments are both built on the idea that people with anti-immigrant attitudes frame other Europeans as an out-group. We then test the validity of these arguments by measuring how respondents in a voter survey frame the issue of Turkish membership. We find that framing the issue in terms of out-groups indeed mediates the effect of anti-immigrant attitudes on support for Turkish membership. This finding offers new insights into why levels of public support vary over different EU issues, because opposition is likely to increase when an issue is more easily framed in terms of out-groups.

When News Matters: Media Effects on Public Support for European Union Enlargement in 21 Countries

First, this study tests for media effects on support for EU enlargement in a natural setting, while including actual media content in the analysis. Second, the moderation by anti-immigrant attitudes of media effects is tested, as it is argued that perceptions of ‘others’ influences how new information on enlargement is received. The study draws on a two-wave panel survey and a media content analysis in 21 countries. The results suggest there is a media effect, although not from individual exposure but from the information environment. In addition, individuals with stronger anti-immigrant attitudes are more strongly affected by a negative information environment.

What’s Islam got to do with it? Attitudes toward specific religious and national out-groups, and support for EU policies

Previous studies predicted European Union attitudes using anti-immigrant attitudes, but without explicitly accounting for attitudes toward different out-groups. We propose that group-specific attitudes independently predict attitudes toward the European Union, but only when the out-group is linked to the European Union issue in question. We additionally argue that realistic or symbolic threat associated with specific out-groups determines whether utilitarian or identity considerations are more important in predicting European Union attitudes. Using a nationally representative Dutch sample (N = 2347), we focus on attitudes toward Polish and Muslim immigrants to predict strengthening of European Union integration and Turkey’s potential accession and find support for our hypotheses. The findings indicate the need to rethink the relationship between out-group perceptions and European Union attitudes.

Netherlands 2014 EP Voting Patterns: From Euphile to Eurosceptic

This chapter examines Dutch public opinion toward the European Union (EU) in a longitudinal perspective. From being a traditional core pro-European country, the Netherlands has recently experienced widespread euroscepticism that has become mainstream. The European Parliament (EP) 2014 elections witnessed this evolution. Yet, Dutch euroscepticism has previously been shown to consist of multiple dimensions. In this chapter, we revisit the dimensional structure of EU attitudes in the aftermath of the Eurozone Crisis. Using four-wave panel survey data from the Netherlands (2013–14), we show that indeed at the aggregate level there is stability in Dutch public opinion. The five-dimensional structure of EU attitudes still holds, while the increased importance of EU attitudes for voting behavior in EP elections is also highlighted.

The moderating role of identification and campaign exposure in party cueing effects

Abstract In a democracy, citizens are expected to have political opinions. Previous research has shown that citizens, in part, form their opinions by following cues from political parties. Building on this literature, this article argues that these cueing effects are the result of individuals identifying with political parties, leading to parties as credible sources and alignment of attitudes to maintain in-group coherence (motivated reasoning). However, party cues can only be successful when individuals are actually exposed to these cues, which previous research has not explicitly studied. Using survey data (N = 20,893) collected from 21 EU member states, this study shows that cueing effects indeed depend on the strength of party identification and the degree of exposure. These results demonstrate the contingent nature of party cueing effects which are also changing as party loyalties decrease.

Integrating Muslim Immigrant Minorities: The Effects of Narrative and Statistical Messages

We build on studies on integration and message effectiveness to test whether narrative versus statistical evidence is more effective in promoting openness to Western European norms among different subgroups of Muslim immigrants. We draw on an experiment in which Muslim immigrants living in the Netherlands (N = 454) saw narrative or statistical messages about gender equality, sexual minority rights, and secularism in public life. We find that the Dutch-born were more receptive to a narrative, while statistical messages generated greater openness to the tested norms among those born in Muslim countries. We interpret these findings in light of different cultural orientations. The study offers a first step toward a framework for understanding evidence effectiveness in multiethnic societies.

News media’s position-taking regarding the European Union: the synchronization of mass media’s reporting and commentating in the 2014 European Parliament elections

ABSTRACT We analyse whether a newspaper’s editorial position regarding the European Union is related to its selection decisions in the news section. We ask whether such a synchronization between news and editorials exists, whether it is conditioned by the type of media system and under which conditions it also affects the selection of transnational voices. Our study is based on a quantitative content analysis of the quality press in seven European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom) in the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament elections. Our results support a synchronization between editorials and news, specifically with regard to the selection of national speakers. With regard to transnational speakers, they are selectively chosen by a medium if its editorial position is not supported at the national level. Furthermore, they are used to put forward a portrayal of a political community in accordance with the editorial line.