IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v13y2025a9869.html

Reporting EU Politics in News Venues: An Issue of Democratic Deficit?

Author

Listed:
  • Muriel Cathérine Wenzel

    (Department of Social and Cultural Sciences, Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Germany)

Abstract

In a qualitative research design comprising 34 expert interviews and 18 focus groups from two distinct research projects, interviewees and participants discussed the status of EU reporting as well as its impact on and importance for the alleged democratic deficit of the EU. This article subsumes their views and attempts to answer the following questions: Can EU reporting positively influence European democracy? What are the obstacles and possibilities to strengthen EU reporting? The article first lays out the theoretical foundation of the impact of EU reporting and the role of the media in European democracy. Based on a qualitative analysis, it then shows the current perceived status of EU reporting in the media on local, national, and supranational levels. Lastly, the article illustrates possible examples and ideas to improve EU reporting—e.g., by demonstrating EU topics’ concrete relevance for daily life.

Suggested Citation

  • Muriel Cathérine Wenzel, 2025. "Reporting EU Politics in News Venues: An Issue of Democratic Deficit?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 13.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v13:y:2025:a:9869
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.9869
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/9869
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.9869?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:44:y:2006:i::p:533-562 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:45:y:2007:i::p:127-155 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Stefanie Sifft & Michael Brüggemann & Katharina Kleinen‐V. Königslöw & Bernhard Peters & Andreas Wimmel, 2007. "Segmented Europeanization: Exploring the Legitimacy of the European Union from a Public Discourse Perspective," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 127-155, March.
    4. Cristian Nitoiu, 2013. "The European Public Sphere: Myth, Reality or Aspiration?," Political Studies Review, Political Studies Association, vol. 11(1), pages 26-38, January.
    5. Carlos Mendez & Fernando Mendez & Vasiliki Triga & Juan Miguel Carrascosa, 2020. "EU Cohesion Policy under the Media Spotlight: Exploring Territorial and Temporal Patterns in News Coverage and Tone," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(4), pages 1034-1055, July.
    6. Andreas Follesdal & Simon Hix, 2006. "Why There is a Democratic Deficit in the EU: A Response to Majone and Moravcsik," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 533-562, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marianne van de Steeg & Thomas Risse, 2010. "The Emergence of a European Community of Communication - Insights from Empirical Research on the Europeanization of Public Spheres," KFG Working Papers p0015, Free University Berlin.
    2. Lisanne de Blok & Max Heermann & Julian Schuessler & Dirk Leuffen & Catherine E. de Vries, 2024. "All on board? The role of institutional design for public support for differentiated integration," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(3), pages 593-604, September.
    3. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2007. "Reflections on multilevel legitimacy," MPIfG Working Paper 07/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    4. Katjana Gattermann & Claes H De Vreese, 2017. "The role of candidate evaluations in the 2014 European Parliament elections: Towards the personalization of voting behaviour?," European Union Politics, , vol. 18(3), pages 447-468, September.
    5. Christopher J Williams, 2016. "Issuing reasoned opinions: The effect of public attitudes towards the European Union on the usage of the 'Early Warning System'," European Union Politics, , vol. 17(3), pages 504-521, September.
    6. Petia Kostadinova, 2015. "Improving the Transparency and Accountability of EU Institutions: The Impact of the Office of the European Ombudsman," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 1077-1093, September.
    7. Camille Kelbel & Virginie Van Ingelgom & Soetkin Verhaegen, 2016. "Looking for the European Voter: Split-Ticket Voting in the Belgian Regional and European Elections of 2009 and 2014," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 4(1), pages 116-129.
    8. Kyriaki Nanou & Galina Zapryanova & Fanni Toth, 2017. "An ever-closer union? Measuring the expansion and ideological content of European Union policy-making through an expert survey," European Union Politics, , vol. 18(4), pages 678-693, December.
    9. Erik Jones, 2009. "Output Legitimacy and the Global Financial Crisis: Perceptions Matter," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1085-1105, November.
    10. Frederik Stevens & Iskander De Bruycker, 2020. "Influence, affluence and media salience: Economic resources and lobbying influence in the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 21(4), pages 728-750, December.
    11. Katjana Gattermann, 2013. "News about the European Parliament: Patterns and external drivers of broadsheet coverage," European Union Politics, , vol. 14(3), pages 436-457, September.
    12. Fabio Sozzi, 2013. "National Parties, Political Processes and the EU democratic deficit: The Problem of Europarties Institutionalization," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 4, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    13. Andrea Fracasso & Nicola Grassano & Giuseppe Vittucci Marzetti, 2015. "The Gravity of Foreign News Coverage in the EU: Does the Euro Matter?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 274-291, March.
    14. James P. Cross, 2012. "Interventions and negotiation in the Council of Ministers of the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 13(1), pages 47-69, March.
    15. Rauh, Christian, 2022. "Clear messages to the European public? The language of European Commission press releases 1985–2020," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-19.
    16. Grégoire Rota Graziosi, 2009. "On the Strategic Use of Representative Democracy in International Agreements," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 11(2), pages 281-296, April.
    17. Mathias Lund Larsen, 2023. "Bottom-up market-facilitation and top-down market-steering: comparing and conceptualizing green finance approaches in the EU and China," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 61-80, March.
    18. Caroline Mcevoy, 2016. "The Role of Political Efficacy on Public Opinion in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(5), pages 1159-1174, September.
    19. Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian & Zangl, Bernhard, 2015. "Which post-Westphalia? International organizations between constitutionalism and authoritarianism," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 21(3), pages 568-594.
    20. Simon Richter & Sebastian Stier, 2022. "Learning about the unknown Spitzenkandidaten: The role of media exposure during the 2019 European Parliament elections," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(2), pages 309-329, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v13:y:2025:a:9869. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.