The News Coverage of the 2004 European Parliamentary Election Campaign in 25 Countries
| Author | Hajo G. Boomgaarden,Susan A. Banducci,Holli A. Semetko,Claes H. de Vreese |
| DOI | 10.1177/1465116506069440 |
| Published date | 01 December 2006 |
| Date | 01 December 2006 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The News Coverage of the
2004 European Parliamentary
Election Campaign in 25
Countries
Claes H. de Vreese
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Susan A. Banducci
University of Exeter, UK
Holli A. Semetko
Emory University, USA
Hajo G. Boomgaarden
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ABSTRACT
This article analyses the news coverage of the 2004 Euro-
pean parliamentary elections in all 25 member states of the
European Union (EU). It provides a unique pan-European
overview of the campaign coverage based on an analysis of
three national newspapers and two television newscasts in
the two weeks leading up to the elections. On average, the
elections were more visible in the 10 new member states
than in the 15 old EU member states. The political person-
alities and institutional actors featured in news stories about
the elections were generally national political actors and not
EU actors. When evaluative, the news in the old EU-15 was
generally negative towards the EU, whereas in the new
countries a mixed pattern was found. The findings of the
study are discussed in the light of the literature on the EU’s
legitimacy and communication deficit.
477
European Union Politics
DOI: 10.1177/1465116506069440
Volume 7 (4): 477–504
Copyright© 2006
SAGE Publications
London, Thousand Oaks CA,
New Delhi
KEY WORDS
content analysis
EU
European parliamentary
election
legitimacy
media
Introduction
The 2004 European parliamentary (EP) elections were an unprecedented
exercise in democracy, with more than 350 million people in 25 countries
having the opportunity to vote. The elections took place only weeks after the
accession of 10 new member states to the European Union – the largest
enlargement ever. Most voters in both the old EU-15 and the 10 new member
states experience politics primarily through the media. Particularly in the case
of low-salience, second-order elections, most of what citizens know about the
campaign stems from the media (Bennett and Entman, 2001; see also Euro-
barometer 162). Empirical knowledge about the media’s coverage of EP elec-
tions is a prerequisite for assessing the well-being of democratic processes in
Europe and for informing the ongoing discussion about the EU’s democratic
and communication deficits.
Observations of the democratic process in the EU have been dominated
by the ‘democratic deficit’. This deficit has been identified as one of the major
shortcomings of European integration and has been conceptualized in terms
of institutional design and linkage institutions that focus on national rather
than EU issues (Coultrap, 1999: 108; Kuper, 1998; Scharpf, 1999). The
unelected nature of the Commission, the lack of European parliamentary
power in policy-making, and the dominance of national issues are reflected
in a lack of popular support, legitimacy and engagement in the EU among
EU citizens (e.g. Eichenberg and Dalton, 1993).
The importance of the media in alleviating or contributing to the demo-
cratic deficit lies in the media’s ability to contribute towards a shared frame-
work of reference and a European identity. First, the lack of EU legitimacy is
viewed as a communication deficit (Meyer, 1999; Anderson and McLeod,
2004). According to this view, EU institutions have been unsuccessful in
shaping European identity and promoting the connection between citizens
and EU institutions via the media (Anderson and Weymouth, 1999; Anderson,
2004). Although the EU, and the European Parliament specifically, need to
promote themselves, they are oftentimes confronted with media outlets that
are either sceptical or uninterested (Anderson and McLeod, 2004; De Vreese,
2002; Meyer, 1999). Accordingly, negative news and, in general, a lack of news
regarding the EU and EP are thought to contribute to a lack of legitimacy and
to detract from the formation of a European identity.
Secondly, the lack of a European public sphere has been referred to as
the public communication deficit (Scharpf, 1999; Schlesinger, 1999). From this
perspective, the development of European democracy depends on the exist-
ence of a European public sphere, which entails a common public debate
carried out through a common European news agenda (Schlesinger, 1995),
European Union Politics 7(4)
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