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

Abstract

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).