The EU communication deficit: : A case study of Swedish print media

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore to what extent and in what way Swedish quality newspapers cover the European Union. In this paper two questions are explored: 1. “Is there a communication deficit between the EU and the Swedish public? 2. “Are Swedish quality newspapers, through the visibility and quality of their coverage of the European Union, enhancing or bridging the communication deficit in the Swedish media?” To answer these questions a quantitative content analysis was conducted on news articles covering the European Union (EU) and Swedish national politics (S) in the quality newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet. The content of the EU articles were analysed with regard to visibility and quality and were tested on five news aspects (frequency, prominence, volume, Europeaness and policy fields). The reporting of these variables, with the exception of policy fields, where also compared to the reporting of Swedish national politics. Central concepts in this study are the communication deficit and political knowledge in relation to the European Union. To understand the role of the media in relation to EU reporting and how it affects political knowledge, media logics are also discussed. The findings of this study support the existence of a communication deficit and show that Swedish print media struggle to deliver EU news of the quality and quantity necessary to bridge this communication deficit.