EU representations and narrative convergence in Italian and Spanish press (2001-2021)

This article combines computational linguistics techniques and qualitative analysis to analyze press coverage of European affairs in Italian and Spanish press from 2001 to 2021 (n = 400,00 ca.). Our purpose is twofold: first, we estimate the saliency of European issues in the press, and apply an inductive approach to identify the main policy topics related to the EU. Second, we investigate the frames and metaphors used to describe EU institutions, actors and policies in order to test to what extent Italian and Spanish news articles remain fundamentally different regardless the outlet political leaning (or whether narratives about European integration converge over time). Preliminary results suggest that, while EU politics continues to be viewed from a national perspective, media coverage of the Eurozone crisis and Covid-19 pandemic has contributed to the development of a shared Southern European narrative of the integration processes, and in turn the emergence of a (Southern) European public sphere. Conflict frame and attribution of responsibility appear as a critical (albeit not sufficient) factors in this process. Data stems from newspapers’ online archives and Factiva news database; textual data is analyzed using R software environment for statistical computing and graphics.