How Media Contribute to Young Citizen’s

Formation of Orientations towards the EUFormation of Orientations towards the EU

Mag. Dr. Christina Ortner

University of Salzburg, Austria

Paper presented at the European Communication Conference (ECC),

Lisbon, November 13th, 2014

Introduction

• Media are important for political communication and socialisation.This is true for different political levels – including the European.

• In a system of multi-level governance young citizens must develop positions towards national as well as European politics.positions towards national as well as European politics.

• As a main source of information on European affairs media areof notable relevance in this context.

• There are some studies exploring the impact of media coverage or choice on existing attitudes of the adult population.

How orientations towards the EU are developed in the course of mediated experiences while growing up has not been analysed yet.

Media Experiences

Research Focus

Booksetc.

FirsthandExperiences

Educational Experiences

Interpersonal Experiences

Orientations towardsthe EU

TV

Online

Books

News-paper

Maga-zines

Radio

etc.

etc.

etc.

etc.

The Concept of Orientations

Individual patterns of “everything people have in their mind with respect to a specific object” (Niedermayer/Westle 1995: 44).

Involvement Evaluations

Cognitive Affective Assessments of the EU based on concrete

emotions, information and perceptions

Degree of interest, degree of knowledge

Degree of emotionality

Niedermayer, Oskar/Westle, Bettina (1995): A Typology of Orientations. In: Niedermayer, Oskar/Sinnott, Richard (Eds.): Public Opinion and Internationalized Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 33-50.

The Formation of Orientations

• Political orientations as developmental task

Forming orientations towards the EU is part of becoming a politically mature citizen in a transnational democracy

• Forming orientations through experience-based learning

Orientations towards the EU are developed and revised in a circular process on the basis of concrete experiences

• Reconsidering the context of everyday lifeOrientations and Experiences with the EU are rooted in everyday life and influenced by patterns of daily action and lifeworldy conditions

Research Design

Standardised Online-SurveySample: 274 respondents

from all over AustriaScope: key aspects and selected

context informationAim: screening, extending the number of participants

Problem-Centred Interviews

Sample: 30 selected interview partner

Scope: various aspects and contexts

Aim: subjective meaning, in depth analysis, exploration

March April May June July August

2010

Results Overview

Part III:TypologiesPart I:

Orientations towards

Part IV:Theoretical Model

Orientations towards the EU

Part II:The role of media

experiences

Patterns of orientations

Repertoires of experiences

EU Media Contacts

58%35%

7%

How often do you come across the EUin the media? (n=268)

• School and family are important for the first contact, media for the later

• Seldom young adults actively follow European affairs in the mediaEuropean affairs in the media

• Own initiative is not necessary to regularly get in touch with the EU

• But: Information seeking and frequency of media contacts correlate

6%30%

15%49%

Often Sometimes Seldom Never

How often do you search for information about the EU? (n=273)

„If I read the newspaper I need not read carefully – there is always

something on the EU.” (Alexander, 27)

EU Media Sources

Young adults mainly come across the EU in information media, in particular in the daily news in papers, on TV and online.

• Newspapers „I read the letters to the • NewspapersKronenzeitung (boulevard), less often quality newspapers

• TelevisionMainly news casts, political magazines,

talks at ORF (PSB)

• Onlineorf.at, newspapers, search engines, Wikipedia, EU websites

„I read the letters to the editor in the Krone. […] Everyone hates the EU,

everyone is writing that.” (Georg, 25)

„You type it in at Google or Wikipedia and here we go! You come to thousands of sites were you can check

things out.” (Max, 22)

Relevance of Media Experiences

77 80767470

80

90Figures in %

How important are the following sources for the knowledge/opinion you have about the EU?

“As I am rarely concerned with the EU in my daily life,I only get to know what is in the newspapers.” (Edith, 27)

7776

68

5658

74

68 6865 63

51

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Education (n=256)

Internet (n=258)

Newspaper (n=258)

TV (n=256)

Private talk (n=252)

Radio (n=260)

(Very) important for knowledge (Very) important for opinion

Gratifications of Media Experiences

Young adults perceive media as helpful for forming orientations towards the EU because they...

• inform about what’s currently going on „On the internet you get to • inform about what’s currently going on

• give an overview of various aspects

• point to relevant issues

• make available extensive information

„On the internet you get to know a lot. I think, if you search for it, you can find

everything.” (Sara, 30)

„From time to time there are very competent people on the TV […] who know what they are talking about. Some of

them I see as opinion leaders I can trust in.” (Benedikt, 29)

• allow insights in diverse opinions

• deliver new arguments

• provide topics for political talk

Problems of Understanding

Interviewees with little prior knowledge often perceive media coverage as confusing, mistrust media information and face problems in reflecting and evaluating them.

„You don’t know who are these people and who is doing what. There are only lots of terms you cannot make much sense of.” (Anna, 26)

“In fact, it is easy to manipulate me. They argue so convincing [...] that I think everyone is right is some way.” (Carsten, 23)

“Everything is painted in black and white. You don’t know what youshould believe in. One expert is saying this, the other one that.” (Georg, 25)

Nevertheless, some of them strongly rely on media when forming orientations towards the EU.

Contextual Factors

LIFEWORLDY CONDITIONS

PATTERNS OF DAILY ACTION

General patterns of

media usage

Patterns of using

information media

Political

Engagement

MEDIA EXPERIENCES

INTERPERSONAL EXPERIENCES

EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES

FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCES

media usage information media Engagement

Field of

Education

Social Field Field of Work Living Place

Further Information

Mag. Dr.

Christina OrtnerChristina Ortner

Lecturer at the University of Salzburg

and the Universities of Applied Science

Salzburg and Hagenberg

christina.ortner@sbg.ac.at

ATTACHMENT

Sample Online-Surveyn=274 Federal state Occupational field (open question) Year of birth

Gender Burgenland 12 (4%) Bank, insurance 7 (3%) 1980 22 (6%)

Male 169 (62%) Carinthia 7 (3%) Education 29 (11%) 1981 37 (14%)

Female 105 (38%) Salzburg 89 (33%) Sale, tourism 22 (8%) 1982 33 (12%)

Educational level Lower Austria 14 (5%) Art, culture, publishing 9 (3%) 1983 32 (12%)Educational level Lower Austria 14 (5%) Art, culture, publishing 9 (3%) 1983 32 (12%)

Primary 73 (27%) Upper Austria 90 (33%) Agriculture, forestry 3 (1%) 1984 24 (9%)

Secondary 111 (41%) Styria 17 (6%) Cleaning, caretaking 4 (1%) 1985 25 (9%)

Tertiary 85 (31%) Tyrol 6 (2%) Law, politics 10 (4%) 1986 23 (8%)

Urbanisation Vorarlberg 0 (0%) Social and health care 22 (8%) 1987 24 (9%)

City 94 (32%) Vienna 21 (8%) Engineering, production 36 (13%) 1988 24 (9%)

Small city 64 (23%9 Employment status Public transport 5 (2%) 1989 31 (11%)

Countryside 113 (41%) Employed 193 (70%) Administration 72 (26%) The percentages refer ton=274.. Some questions

were not answered by all participants. Therefore,

the sum of the percentages is not

necessarily 100.

Migration background Student 63 (23%) Marketing, PR, journalism 28 (10%)

No 231 (84%) Unemployed 14 (5%) Science, research 9 (3%)

Yes 34 (12%) Other 4 (1%) Other 26 (9%)

Sample Qualitative Interviewsn=30 Educational groups All

Tertiary (10) Secondary (10) Primary (10)

Gender Male 5 4 7 16

Female 5 6 3 14

Age From-to 25-28 22-30 21-26 21-30

Urbanisation City 6 2 3 11

Small City 3 3 1 7

Countryside 1 5 6 12

Employmentstatus

Employed 7 8 6 21

Student 2 2 0 4

Unemployed 1 0 2 3

Other 0 0 2 2

Occupational field

Bank, insurance 1 Law, politics 4 Administration 5

Education 2 Engineering, production 9 Marketing, PR, journalism 3

Sale, tourism 2 Public transport 2 Science, research 2