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
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
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