1. (De)constructing Europe in the online news media
Dr. Dimitris Trimithiotis
Adjunct Lecturer, University of Cyprus
Associate Researcher, Aix-Marseille University, LAMES-CNRS

2. (De)constructing Europe in the online news media
RQ Area 1: Ordinary periods vs Summit periods
RQ1a: In what extent EU affairs are covered during ordinary/summit periods?
RQ1b: How do media frame EU affairs during these two types of periods?
RQ Area 2: Financial situation & Organisational structure of the media
RQ2a: Do financial factors matter in the coverage of EU affairs?
RQ2b: Do news makers have adequate knowledge of how to collect information about EU affairs?
RQ2c: How do professional norms and values shape coverage of EU affairs?
RQ Area 3: Political Identity of the media
RQ3a: Are there any variations between media of different political background as regards to their coverage of EU affairs?
RG3b: How does the political identity of the media impact this coverage?
Explore how EU affairs are covered by media
Consider factors that shape EU’s coverage
Analyse news in relation to the ‘Journalistic field’ (Benson, Neveau, 2005)

3. Methodology & Data Dimitris Trimithiotis Con-text Text
Online News Media
Philenews (Center)
Sigmalive (Right wing)
Dialogos (Left wing)
News items
Ordinary periods – two constructed weeks (n=58)
Summit periods – one constructed week (n=72)
Actors
Media Directors (General directors, members of the administration board)
Journalists (Editors in Chief, Editors, Correspondents in Brussels)
A Contextual Approach to Dicourse
Con-text
Text
Process of Production

4. Results: The Content of the coverage
Dimitris Trimithiotis
Results: The Content of the coverage
1. Visibility and Prominence
1.1. Visibility
Routine Periods: 7-14 news articles per week and per media
Summit periods: news articles per week and per media
1.2. Prominence
Routine Periods: 224 words average, less reported discourse
Summit Periods: 443 words average, more reported discourse

5. Results: The Content of the coverage
Dimitris Trimithiotis
Results: The Content of the coverage
2. Themes and Persons of the coverage
2.1. Themes
(a) Financial affairs with interest for Cyprus (i.e. Cyprus debt)
(b) The Cyprus Problem
(c) Financial affairs of general interest (i.e. Brexit)
2.2. Persons
Ministers of Cyprus
President of Cyprus
Other Members of the Council of Europe
Members of the European Commission
Leaders of other EU states.

6. Results: The Content of the coverage
Dimitris Trimithiotis
Results: The Content of the coverage
3. Tone of the coverage
Sigmalive: positive tone towards the EU
Dialogos: critical tone towards the EU
Philenews: more balanced coverage

7. Results: The Context of the coverage
Dimitris Trimithiotis
Results: The Context of the coverage

8. Results: The Context of the coverage
Dimitris Trimithiotis
Results: The Context of the coverage
1. The absence of correspondents and the low visibility
Financial factor: Financial considerations led news media to reduce the presence of their correspondents in Brussels.
Technological factor: Online technology makes easier and instantaneous the transport of content from news agencies to media newsroom.
Editorial factor: Audience strategies lead to a downgrade of EU affairs in the media agendas.
Two of the three media under study do not have any correspondent in Brussels (only Philenews relies on a stringer in Brussels)
The majority of the news articles on EU is based on reports from Cyprus News Agency (CNA)

9. Results: The Context of the coverage
Dimitris Trimithiotis
Results: The Context of the coverage
2. Absence of training and the predominance of the summit periods
Journalists responsible for the EU affairs do not receive any training
Big range of complex fields that journalists have to cover
Filtering EU affairs in relation to their relevance with the domestic context
EU Activity
Domestic NewsRoom
‘Domesticated’ EU

10. Results: The Context of the coverage
Dimitris Trimithiotis
Results: The Context of the coverage
3. Tone of the coverage / advocacy and audience oriented journalism
Advocacy Journalism
modification of utterances
introduction of comment
to make it coherent with their political views and values
Audience Oriented Journalism
inclusion of various political voices
predominance of the conflict frame
to make it more attractive to the audience
… Majority of online news media
common coverage of EU affairs
journalistic ‘copy-paste’ process
opposite to the principle of pluralism
dependence on political institutions

11. Perspectives Towards a cross-national comparative perspective
Dimitris Trimithiotis
Perspectives
Towards a cross-national comparative perspective
Single country studies run the risk of generating findings that are idiosyncratic to a context or country (Blumler et al., 1992, de Vreese, 2007).

12. Dr. Dimitris Trimithiotis
Adjunct Lecturer, University of Cyprus
Associate Researcher, Aix-Marseille University LAMES-CNRS