Recent studies have showed that topics such as the euro-crisis (Meijers 2013) or the European elections and the increasing Euroscepticism (Vand der Brug & de Vreese, 2015) could actually contribute to achieve a higher degree of Europeanization of national public spheres than it seems. Given the fact that, although they put the EU in a bad spot, they, nevertheless, ensure a high visibility of European issues, sometimes even higher than the 25 to 27 enlargement or the referendum for European Constitution. In 2014, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the subsequent military conflict in Ukraine generated significant news attention all over Europe. Moreover, journalists and political analysts were also interested in the way both Russian and western media covered this conflict, in terms of accuracy versus propaganda or manipulation and also in terms of naming and framing the event as a war, a conflict, an invasion etc.
Our paper aims to approach the conflict in Ukraine, as it was covered by Romanian media, from a perspective that will provide useful insights about the process of Europeanization of the national public sphere in Romania. Therefore, we will consider Europeanization as a process in which ‘Europe’ becomes more visible and national news are, to a greater extent, thematically synchronized with other European countries’ news.
Considering that in most European countries the national society is the central point of interest (Kaelble 2002; Diez Medrano 2009) we will investigate the emergence of a Europeanised national public sphere in Romania by analyzing the media coverage on the war in Ukraine as a European issue.
Our research questions will focus both on vertical and on horizontal Europeanization (Koopmans & Erbe 2004; Koopmans & Statham 2010).
1. Is there a European perspective / European point of view presented in relation to this war?
2. Is there an explicit EU focus or a focus on other European countries / actors? Does media relate the news on Ukraine stressing the response / the action / the analysis of European leaders or EU officials?
Both questions are, in fact, complying with a less restrictive view of the Europeanization of the public sphere (e.g. Eder & Kantner 2000; Trenz 2010; Risse 2010; Koopmans & Statham 2010a; Wessler et al. 2008).
