The British press has often been accused of representing the EU unfairly and predominantly negatively and thereby fuelling growing Euroscepticism in an already Eurosceptic country (e.g. Anderson and Weymouth 1999; Daddow 2012; Hawkins 2012). In the run-up to the European Elections this trend has continued. This paper considers articles from five UK national newspapers, tabloids and broadsheets, and news broadcasts from the BBC and Channel Four to uncover how different positions towards the European Union are used to characterise UK politicians and public authorities.
This paper uses a critical discourse analytical approach to text analysis in which language as part of a larger discourse is seen as a consequence of and an influence on societal developments. Language and rhetoric used to describe Euroscepticism and Eurosceptics on the one hand, and supporters of the European Union on the other hand, is therefore a crucial part of the analysis as it points towards underlying ideologies in the newsroom but also in the wider society. Furthermore production processes, which influence the news organisations’ output, are taken into account. Differences between types of media, influence of ownership and pressures of the market are used to explain the emergence of dominant discourses.
While ‘Eurosceptic’ in other contexts is regarded as carrying negative connotations (Crespy and Verschueren 2009), the analysis of UK media coverage of the run-up to the European Elections and its immediate aftermath suggests the opposite for the British context: Euroscepticism is becoming a desirable attribute for domestic politicians. A pro-European attitude or open support for the European Union and further integration is, however, represented as a reason for electoral failure. At the same time the conceptual complexity of Euroscepticism is neglected.
