NEWSLETTER #1

MEDIATIZED EU brings together interdisciplinary research teams from seven countries to provide insights into what forces shape media discourses on Europeanization and how these impact perceptions of the European project. Our objectives are to study the framing of and identity factors related to Europeanization in the media and its representations in public opinion; to explore the role of political and media elites in the media framing of the EU discourse and identify factors related to Europeanization; to trace the interconnections between the political and media elites’ discourses, EU framing and public opinion; to elaborate suggestions for policymakers on how to address key challenges.

On June 23, we started our debate with stakeholders in a roundtable, with the aim of contributing to a deeper understanding of how engaged citizens and informed policymaking can propel the European project towards a more inclusive, progressive and informed future.

The programme was opened by Samuel Doveri Vesterbye, Managing Director at the European Neighbourhood Council (ENC), who spoke about the future of Europe and the importance of the topic and Dr. Tanya Lokot, Associate Professor in Digital Media & Society at the School of Communications, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dublin City University (Project Coordinator) who introduced the MEDIATIZED EU Horizon 2020 project. Dr. Lia Tsuladze, Executive Director at the Centre for Social Studies (CSS) and Associate Professor of Sociology at Tbilisi State University, spoke about the project’s methodology, presenting results of previous research on the case of Georgia, whereas Stephen O’Shea, Deputy CEO, and Ciarán O’ Driscoll, Policy and Research Officer at European Movement Ireland, spoke about the civil society perspective on related media debates and public discourse. The event targeted policy-makers, academics and journalists and was moderated by Jack Parrock, TV and radio correspondent for Euronews, with time for questions and comments that resulted in a lively debate.

Read the event report on our website and watch the debate on our YouTube channel.

Throughout 2021, MEDIATIZED EU members are engaged in desk research and media analysis focused on each of our countries’ cases. The desk research, which will be concluded by August 2021, will provide a historical overview by analysing the available survey data (Eurobarometer, European Social Survey, Caucasus Barometer etc.) and secondary data (research reports, scholarly articles, blogs, policy briefs, etc.) on the media representations of the EU and the European project in the target countries since the beginning of 21st century until the present. The next phase will be dedicated to content and discourse analyses of the media outlets in the 7 target countries which will last for 9 months (July 2021-March 2022).

Stay tuned and find more about our project by checking our website, following us on social media and subscribing to our newsletter to keep up to date on our work and engage with us.