Shifting Europe's Boundaries: mass media, public opinion and the enlargement of the EU

Abstract: This article demonstrates that public attitudes towards EU enlargement are strongly affected by exposure to the mass media. It reveals `priming' effects by showing that media exposure affects the standards by which individuals evaluate the accession of potential candidate countries. To gain a more refined understanding about media effects on enlargement attitudes, we analytically separate three different factors that underlie EU enlargement support for a given candidate country: its economic performance, its state of democracy and its perceived cultural `match' with the EU. Employing an experimental design, we probe the media-induced effects of these factors on EU enlargement attitudes

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Postprint ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: European Union Politics ; 9 (2008) 2 ; 243-267

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Politik ; Nachrichtenmedien, Journalismus, Verlagswesen

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2008
• Creator: Maier, Jürgen ; Rittberger, Berthold

Further information

• DOI: 10.1177/1465116508089087
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-229360
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:23 AM CEST