The Transnational Level

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is widely considered to be very successful in shaping the agenda of transnational media (AIM Research Consortium, 2006; Lazăr, 2006; Lecheler, 2008). Savin’s (2011) analysis of the framing strategy of the EU also shows that the Commission is very successful in providing information to the media and sometimes as the main or only source, in this way setting the agenda in terms of the European topics that the transnational media report on. On the other hand, transnational journalists point to the fact that the ability of the media to successfully define policy problems, propose solutions, or present expectations is hampered by a number of hurdles that they face when reporting about the EU. Firstly, similarly to other research projects (Neveu, 1998; Baisnée, 2002), the interviews underscored that journalists are constrained to focus on the need to attract the attention of their readers, while presenting European issues in a clear and comprehensive way.¹ This is a challenge because transnational publications aim to reach various audiences ranging from national ones to those based in Brussels and even others in non-European states. Secondly, the complex bureaucratic nature of decision-making processes within the EU’s foreign policy and the highly technical language they produce often require journalists to acquire specific knowledge (Bicchi, 2011).