The Non-Financial Crisis: Politics, Medi@, and Culture in the Present Economic Context Europe, the “Crisis” and Online Media Towards a Transnational Web Sphere or Isolated Online Spaces? Dennis Nguyen PhD Candidate, University of Hull MA (Coventry University,UK) Magister Artium (University of Münster, Germany) Date: 10/06/2013

Transnational Publicity and Online Media Structure The Internet and Political Communication Web Spheres The “EU Crisis” and Online Media Methodological Approach Research Outlook 10/06/13

The Internet and Political Communication Online Media’s Dual Function in Political Communication: Web technologies are tools for public communication and networking The Internet is a contested site for struggles of power, i.e. a communicative space that transforms public discourses (Karatzogianni 2006) 10/06/13

Web Spheres (Schneider & Foot 2006) are: The condensation of related online communication with a common reference (i.e. an event or societal debate, e.g. Hepp et al. 2012) Extremely dynamic, erratic and (often but not always!) hard to predict Intrinsically linked but also independent from “offline” (mass-)media discourses Potentially global/transnational in scope 10/06/13

Web Spheres 10/06/13

The “EU Crisis” and Online Media …triggered communicative activity across the European cultural and political landscape …exposed the degree on interconnection in European (political) economy and politics …created an ambivalent situation: convergence and conflict/fragmentation go hand in hand Political communicators and news media talked about largely the same issues but evaluated them quite differently (polarization; ideological conflict) 10/06/13

The “EU Crisis” and Online Media Different readings of the crisis based on different political-cultural perspectives Examples: Austerity/Anti-austerity debates, Eurobonds, integration, North-South divide etc. EU crisis as a network of interconnected conflict areas spanning from crisis policies to the EU’s political framework and migration issues 10/06/13

The “EU Crisis” and Online Media Research question 1: What discursive networks do political online platforms that focus on EU- and European issues form? Research question 2: Which structural and contextual factors determine whether online discourses reproduce transnational or rather nationally oriented discursive spaces? Research question 3: What identities and which affiliations (social, cultural, political) do speakers in online discourses communicate? Research question 4: How do different communicators frame and evaluate the EU, Europe, and individual nation-states? 10/06/13

The “EU Crisis” and Online Media 10/06/13

The “EU Crisis” and Online Media 10/06/13

The “EU Crisis” and Online Media 10/06/13

The “EU Crisis” and Online Media 10/06/13

The “EU Crisis” and Online Media 10/06/13

The “EU Crisis” and Online Media Different “intensities” of transnationalism in online media: Indirect/weak (e.g. debates on EU in “culturally closed” forums) Direct/strong (e.g. debates on EU in “culturally pluralistic” forums) Context-dependent scale (not necessarily “either-or”) 10/06/13

Methodological Approach Empirical Analysis of the EU Crisis Web Sphere Qualitative-quantitative content analysis of web articles Frame analysis (Entman 1993; Matthes & Kohring 2008) Network analysis of hyperlinks and cited political actors Sample: 24 communicators in six categories; content published between March 2011 and March 2013 10/06/13

Methodological Approach 10/06/13

Outlook Three Main Goals A diagnostic goal: The description of political web discourse, i.e. its structure and content, in a European context (what we can actually observe). A prognostic goal: The analysis and explanation of discursive behaviour of participating communicators as well as expectable developments in the area (why participants do what they do). A didactic goal: The proposition of recommendations for further research on the issue and outline of potential strategies for evaluating the political relevance of web spheres (how to understand and assess what we can observe). 10/06/13