MEDPOL

Aim of the project

MEDPOL’s aim was twofold: a) to investigate how media coverage of the EU has evolved since the 1990s, and b) to assess the impact of news content and frames on political attitudes and behaviour towards the EU in Italy, Portugal,Spain and France. Drawing on Political Science, Communication Studies and Political Economy literature, the project follows a mixed methods approach grounded on agenda-setting and framing theories.nMEDPOL also investigates the mechanisms through which frames, ideas and narratives may compete with each other and may contribute to political polarisation.

Findings

Findings help improving our understanding of how narrative (and public perceptions) about the EU emerge and evolve. MEDPOL contributes to the diffusion of content and discourse analysis methods, including dictionary-based and unsupervised machine learning techniques, as well as the use of quantitative/qualitative methods and interdisciplinary approaches devoted to understand the role of the media as a political actor. A sample of the data as well as the codes that allow for its analysis are made available for research (non-profit) purposes so other scholars and students can practice and develop data analysis skills. We hope that they will be encouraged to look at other cases and under explored countries. MEDPOL also sheds light on how media coverage - most notably the strong emphasis on conflict frame and negative reporting - may be contributing to distrust in political institutions and in the media itself.

Dissemination

Hybrid workshop on Media and Policy in the EU (26/10/2021, Paris and online): Dr. Marie Palmer (EUI), Aistė Pagirėnaitė (University of Edinburgh), Karla Blažeković (Vienna School of International Studies), Dr. Tatiana Coutto (CEE/Sciences Po).

Thank you to Sciences Po Master Students who took part in the session!

Virtual roundtable on Media, Political Discourse and the EU (online, 03/11/2021): Lennard Alke (CEE/Sciences Po), Charlott Gebauer / Patrick Müller (Vienna School of International Studies), Yani Kartalis (ICS/University of Lisbon), Adriana Mutu (ESIC Business & Marketing School Barcelona, Marie Palmer (EUI), Tatiana Coutto (CEE/Sciences Po). 03 Nov 2021, online.

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