Information flows and centrality among elite European newspapers

Abstract

Combining citations and network analysis, this study examines information flows between 10 Introduction: transnational information flows in EuropeThe study of information flows between media sources from different countries explores the dynamics underlying transnational communication spaces. There is no prevalent and accredited methodology for gathering data about transnational information flows, but there is a rather consolidated research literature that focuses on the interaction among European mass media within the context of study of a European public sphere (EPS). For example, Castells (1997) sees 2 the emergent Euro-state not only as a political-economic zone but, by virtue of privileging its network character (the so-called Euro-matrix), also as a specific kind of communicative space.In the current literature, there are three main aspects of the EPS and each involves a different theoretical angle and methodological approach: the attention of national media for EU politics, the Europeanization of national media and the communicative exchange between national public spheres.The first approach focuses on the attention of national media for EU politics and issues.Typically, studies in this mode are based on content analysis methods that measure EPS by frequency of words that refer to EU affairs as proxy indicators of salience in European mass media, usually newspapers or television reporting (Gehards, 2002). The most common result in this approach is that European news is dwarfed in comparison with national and regional issues (Machill, Bellet et al., 2006). In terms of longitudinal trends, Meyer (2002) reports some increase in media attention towards European affairs during the 1990s with some important distinctions on the nature of media reporting. Interestingly, several studies seem to indicate that there is rather little variation in terms of national media attention on European issues. The dominant themes being discussed and reported in national media seem to vary little across the EU (Sievert, 1998; Medrano, 2001;Meyer, 2002). The conclusion of this kind of research is that there is no EPS to speak of in a meaningful sense given the low salience of European issues in mass media, although the significance of the European dimension has increased slightly over the 1990s.The second approach focuses on the Europeanization of national media (Koopmans, 2004;Risse, 2003;Trenz, 2004). Studies of this kind are less pessimistic about the EPS. Concentrating on analysing media reporting on particular European issues, such as the debate over EU enlargement, the Lisbon Treaty, BSE, etc. (Koopmans and Erbe, 2004). On European issues, differences across Europe are not particularly large, demonstrating similar level of attention, and more importantly several European themes are framed in rather similar ways across 3 national media, leading to similar interpretative schemes and structures of meaning (Eder, 1998(Eder, , 2000Eder and Kantner, 2000;Van de Steeg, 2000).The third approach -the most relevant for this...

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