The EU as an ATM? Media Perception Analysis of Next Generation Funds in Spain

  1. Mayo-Cubero, Marcos 1
  2. García-Carretero, Lucía 3
  3. Establés, María-José 1
  4. Pedrero-Esteban, Luis-Miguel 2
  1. 1 Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR 02p0gd045

  2. 2 Universidad Nebrija
    info

    Universidad Nebrija

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/03tzyrt94

  3. 3 Universidad a Distancia de Madrid (UDIMA)
Revista:
Media and Communication

ISSN: 2183-2439

Año de publicación: 2023

Volumen: 11

Número: 4

Páginas: 15

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.17645/MAC.V11I4.7130 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Media and Communication

Resumen

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a turning point in terms of communication and economics within the borders of the EU. Hence, the economic response to the consequences of the pandemic has been different from previous crises. Both factors influence the media’s representation of the European project, and the construction of this image is particularly relevant to generating a favourable public opinion towards the European project. This research aims to determine how the Spanish media represent the Next Generation recovery funds and to determine the main discourses around this issue. We analysed news items disseminated by a sample of six leading Spanish news media through qualitative and quantitative methods by applying content and critical discourse analysis. The selection collects data via Twitter from July 2021 to March 2022. We found that media discourse reflects a pro-European sentiment, departing from previous Eurosceptic views. Next Generation funds have positively influenced Spanish perception of the EU and shifted the narrative towards Europeanisation. The EU’s support for Spanish funds management advances European integration, but concerns about transparency and control remain. The findings show how the Spanish media present a pro-European view, placing the economic response as a window of opportunity for profound political, societal, and economic structural changes in Spain.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Aixalá-i-Blanch, A. (2014). Crisis económica y Euroescepticismo (2007–2014) [Economic crisis and Euroscepticism (2007–2014)]. Fundación Alternativas.
  • Almansa-Martínez, A., Fernández-Torres, M. J., & Rodríguez-Fernández, L. (2022). Desinformación en España un año después de la Covid-19. Análisis de las verificaciones de Newtral y Maldita [Disinformation in Spain one year after Covid-19. Analysis of the Newtral and Maldita verifications]. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 80, 183–200. https://bit.ly/3xwTJCe
  • Arrese, A. (2018). Austerity policies in the European press: A divided Europe? In L. Basu, S. Schifferes, & S. Knowles (Eds.), The media and austerity: Comparative perspectives (pp. 113–127). Routledge.
  • Arrese, Á., & Vara, A. (2018). The housing bubble in the Spanish press: A media discourse captured by the logic of elite to elite communication processes? The Political Economy of Communication, 6(2), 74–93. https://t.ly/t4YX
  • Avilés, J. (2014). España y la integración europea: Partidos y opinión pública (1977–2004) [Spain and European integration: Parties and public opinion (1977–2004)]. Revista Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, 16, 409–424. https://doi.org/10.5944/etfv.16.2004.3086
  • Benedicto-Solsona, M. A. (2016). Política de información y comunicación en la UE [Information and communication policy in the EU] [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Complutense University of Madrid. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/42949739.pdf
  • Berelson, B. (1971). Content analysis in communication research. Hafner.
  • Besalú, R. (2020). Pandemia y medios de comunicación convencionales [Pandemic and mainstream media]. In A. Gutiérrez-Rubi & C. Pont Sorribes (Eds.), Comunicación política en tiempos de coronavirus [Political communication in times of coronavirus] (pp. 104–108). Cátedra Ideograma–UPF de Comunicación Política y Democracia.
  • Borah, P. (2011). Conceptual issues in framing theory: A systematic examination of a decade’s literature. Journal of Communication, 61(2), 246–263. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01539.x
  • Boulos, S., Abad-Quintanal, G., Mayo-Cubero, M., & De-Sousa-Ferreira, S. (2023). Construction of “normative power Europe”: A critical analysis of the human rights narratives in Spanish media discourses on the European Union. Profesional de la Información, 32(4). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.jul.07
  • Brack, N., & Startin, N. (2015). Introduction: Euroscepticism, from the margins to the mainstream. International Political Science Review, 36(3), 239–249. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512115577231
  • Caballero, D. (2022, January 21). El gobierno entierra en una montaña de cifras su fracaso en la ejecución de los fondos europeos [The government buries its failure to implement the European funds in a mountain of figures]. ABC. https://bit.ly/3BoluA3
  • Calvo, K., Gómez-Pastrana, T., & Mena, L. (2011). Movimiento 15M: ¿Quiénes son los que reivindican? [15M Movement: Who are the claimants?]. Fundación Alternativas.
  • Casero-Ripollés, A., Alonso-Muñoz, L., & Marcos-García, S. (2022). The influence of political actors in the digital public debate on Twitter about the negotiations for the formation of the government in Spain. American Behavioral Scientist, 66(3), 307–322. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211003159
  • Castells, M. (2019, May 12). El dilema de la identidad europea [The dilemma of European identity]. La Vanguardia. https://bit.ly/2Hkq1Wq
  • CIS. (2005). Postreferendum sobre la Constitución Europea [Post-referendum on the European Constitution]. https://shorturl.at/tEP15
  • CIS. (2006). XX aniversario ingreso en la UE [20th anniversary of EU membership]. https://shorturl.at/dxGK0
  • de Miguel, B. (2021a, August 7). Polonia se pliega a las exigencias de Bruselas sobre el respeto a la independencia judicial [Poland complies with Brussels’ demands on respect for judicial independence]. El País. https://bit.ly/3PJGkyd
  • de Miguel, B. (2021b, July 7). Von Der Leyen amenaza a Orbán con recortarle los fondos europeos si no frena la deriva homófoba [Von Der Leyen threatens Orbán with cuts in EU funds if he does not stop his homophobic drift]. El País. https://bit.ly/3S4wxEt
  • de Sola, J. (2021). Science in the media: The scientific community’s perception of the Covid-19 media coverage in Spain. Journal of Science Communication, 20(2), Article A08. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.20020208
  • Díaz Nosty, B. (2005). El déficit mediático: Donde España no converge con la UE [The media deficit: Where Spain does not converge with the EU]. Bosch.
  • Directorate-General for Communication. (2023a). Standard Eurobarometer 58 [Data set]. https://shorturl.at/lpIV5
  • Directorate-General for Communication. (2023b). Standard Eurobarometer 70 [Data set]. https://shorturl.at/oqtF6
  • Directorate-General for Communication. (2023c). Standard Eurobarometer 94—Winter 2020–2021 [Data set]. https://shorturl.at/hou24
  • Directorate-General for Communication. (2023d). Standard Eurobarometer 96—Winter 2021–2022 [Data set]. https://shorturl.at/osyzH
  • Elías, C., & Catalan-Matamoros, D. (2020). Coronavirus in Spain: Fear of “official” fake boosts WhatsApp and alternative sources. Media and Communication, 8(2), 462–466. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i2.3217
  • European Commission. (2020). ESF budget by country: 2014–2020. https://t.ly/5NuF_
  • European Commission. (2023). European Social Fund Plus. https://t.ly/AggY
  • European Parliament. (2023). Economic, social and territorial cohesion. Factsheets on the European Union. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/93/la-cohesion-economica-social-y-territorial
  • Fernández-Planells, A., Figueras-Maz, M., & Feixa, C. (2014). Communication among young people in the #SpanishRevolution: Uses of online-offline tools to obtain information about the #AcampadaBCN. New Media & Society, 16(8), 1287–1308. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814530097
  • Forte-Campos, V., & Rojas, J. (2021). Evolución histórica de los fondos estructurales y de inversión europeos [Historical development of the European structural and investment funds]. Banco de España. https://shorturl.at/eguzH
  • Foucault, M. (1991). Politics and the study of discourse. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentality (pp. 53–72). The University of Chicago Press.
  • Gallardo, J. C. (Executive Producer). (2021, September 10). Europa 2021 [Europe 2021]. RTVE. https://bit.ly/3JgvLA5
  • Gallardo, J. C. (Executive Producer). (2022, February 11). Europa 2022 [Europe 2022]. RTVE. https://bit.ly/3PGG8zE
  • García-Carretero, L., Establés, M. J., Pérez-Escoda, A., & Boulos, S. (2022). La representación de la Unión Europea en los medios de comunicación españoles: Temas y actores dominantes sobre el proceso de europeización [The representation of the European Union in the Spanish media: Dominant themes and actors on the Europeanisation process]. Estudios Sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 28(4), 803–815. https://doi.org/10.5209/esmp.82833
  • Gil, A. (2021a, August 2). Los países del Norte de Europa agitan los fantasmas de la austeridad mientras el Sur busca nuevas reglas económicas [Northern European countries stir up the ghosts of austerity as the South seeks new economic rules]. elDiario.es. https://bit.ly/3zddkaX
  • Gil, A. (2021b, July 30). Bruselas aprieta a Hungría y Polonia con los fondos europeos por su deriva autoritaria y homófoba [Brussels squeezes Hungary and Poland with EU funds for their authoritarian and homophobic drift]. elDiario.es. https://bit.ly/3Gsxamg
  • Gil, A. (2021c, November 10). El gobierno y Bruselas publican el acuerdo sobre los fondos europeos que Casado tachó de “secreto” [The government and Brussels publish the agreement on European funds that Casado described as “secret”]. elDiario.es. https://bit.ly/3Brk6MV
  • Grad, H., Ros, M., García-Albacete, G., & Rodríguez-Monter, M. (2004). The meaning and importance of European identity and its relationship to regional and national identities in Spain: Some contributing factors to the development of European identity. Sociology, 36(3), 219–236. https://shorturl.at/knHO0
  • Guerrero-Solé, F. (2022). Medición de la inclinación política de los medios de comunicación españoles a través de las interacciones de los usuarios de Twitter [Measuring the political leanings of the Spanish media through Twitter user interactions]. Communication & Society, 35(1), 29–43. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.35.1.29-43
  • Herkman, J., & Harjuniemi, T. (2015). Unity or heterogeneity: The promise of a European public sphere? In R. G. Picard (Ed.), The euro crisis in the media: Journalistic coverage of economic crisis and European institution (pp. 221–235). I. B. Tauris. https://doi.org/10.5040/9780755694990.ch-011
  • Hooghe, L., & Marks, G. (2009). A postfunctionalist theory of European integration: From permissive consensus to constraining dissensus. British Journal of Political Science, 39(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123408000409
  • Hutter, S., & Kriesi, H. (2019). Politicizing Europe in times of crisis. Journal of European Public Policy, 26(7), 996–1017. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2019.1619801
  • Kingzette, J. (2021). Who you loathe? Feelings towards politician’s vs ordinary people in the opposing party. Journal of Experimental Political Science, 8, 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1017/XPS.2020.9
  • Krippendorff, K. (2013). Commentary: A dissenting view on so-called paradoxes of reliability coefficients. Annals of the International Communication Association, 36(1), 481–499. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2013.11679143
  • Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE.
  • Lombard, M., Snyder‐Duch, J., & Bracken, C. (2002). Content analysis in mass communication: Assessment and reporting of intercoder reliability. Human Communication Research, 28(4), 587–604. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2002.tb00826.x
  • López-Gómez, C. (2014). Europe as a symbol: The struggle for democracy and the meaning of European integration in post-Franco Spain. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 10(1), 74–89. https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v10i1.548
  • Luo, C. M. (2022). The Covid-19 crisis: The EU recovery fund and its implications for European integration—A paradigm shift. European Review, 30(3), 374–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1834870
  • Mayo-Cubero, M. (2021). Social media and digital information sources in news coverage of crisis, disaster, and emergency situations: A case study from Spain. In L. Oliveira, F. Tajariol, & L. Baptista (Eds.), Digital services in crisis, disaster, and emergency situations (pp. 268–281). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-6705-0.ch012
  • Mayo-Cubero, M. (2022). A multivariable analysis on news production in Spain: Digital newsroom profile, polyvalent journalists and gender perspective. Communication & Society, 35(3), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.35.3.1-14
  • Ministry of Finance and Civil Service. (2021). Fondo Europeo Agrario de Desarrollo Rural (FEADER) [European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)]. https://shorturl.at/nruyA
  • National Statistics Institute. (2016). Tasas de paro por distintos grupos de edad, sexo y comunidad autónoma [Unemployment rates by age group, sex and autonomous region]. https://shorturl.at/bdkmK
  • Pedrero-Esteban, L. M., Pérez-Escoda, A., & Establés, M.-J. (2021). Brexit’s impact on Spanish media discourse: News coverage and audience reaction on Twitter. Profesional de la Información, 30(6). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2021.nov.10
  • Pérez, M.-J. (2022, January 30). El soldado Sánchez y su tocomocho a Bruselas [Private Sanchez and his tocomocho to Brussels]. ABC. https://t.co/McQT1vCizv
  • Pérez-Escoda, A., Boulos, S., Establés, M., & García-Carretero, L. (2023). Polarization in media discourses on Europeanization in Spain. Politics and Governance, 11(2), 221–234. https://doi.org/10.1765/pag.v11i2.6419
  • Proto, L. (2022, February 18). Rusia y Marruecos nos amenazan y la OTAN nos protege: Así ven el mundo los españoles [Russia and Morocco threaten us and NATO protects us: This is how Spaniards see the world]. El Confidencial. https://bit.ly/3cSOeXa
  • R. C. (2021, September 21). Los europeos quieren que los fondos vayan sólo a países que respeten el estado de derecho [Europeans want funds to go only to countries that respect the rule of law]. ABC Internacional. https://bit.ly/3b9F6NI
  • Ríos-Rodríguez, R., & Arrese, Á. (2021). Economic journalism and the elitist approach: A persistent pattern in the use of sources? The Spanish press coverage of the economic crisis (2008–2015). Brazilian Journalism Research, 17(3), 764–791. https://doi.org/10.25200/BJR.v17n3.2021.1445
  • Risse, T. (2015). European public spheres: Politics is back. Cambridge University Press.
  • Rivas-de-Roca, R. (2018). El tratamiento informativo de la UE en crisis (2011–2015): Comparación entre Alemania y España [The news coverage of the EU in crisis (2011–2015): A comparison between Germany and Spain]. Estudios Sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 24(2), 1633–1646. http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/ESMP.62237
  • Rivas-de-Roca, R., & García-Gordillo, M. (2022). Brussels will pay for everything. The shaping of the European public sphere before NextGenerationEU. Profesional de la Información, 31(3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.may.01
  • Salaverría, R., Buslón, N., López-Pan, F., León, B., López-Góñi, I., & Erviti, M. C. (2020). Desinformación en tiempos de pandemia: Tipología de los bulos sobre la Covid-19 [Disinformation in times of pandemic: A typology of Covid-19 hoaxes]. Profesional de la Información, 29(3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2020.may.15
  • Sampedro Blanco, V., & Sánchez-Duarte, J. M. (2011). 15-M: La red era la plaza [15-M: The net was the square]. In V. Sampedro Blanco (Ed.), Cibercampaña. Cauces y diques para la participación: Las elecciones generales de 2008 y su proyección tecnopolítica [e-Campaign. Channels and levees for participation: The 2008 general elections and their technopolitical projection]. (pp. 237–242). Editorial Complutense.
  • Thayer, A., Evans, M., McBride, A., Queen, M., & Spyridakis, J. (2007). Content analysis as a best practice in technical communication research. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 37(3), 267–279. https://doi.org/10.2190/TW.37.3
  • Torres López, J. (2020). La seducción neoliberal [Neoliberal seduction]. Ganas de Escribir. https://shorturl.at/goM89
  • Tuñón, J., & Carral, U. (2019). Twitter as a solution for European communication. Comparative analysis in Germany, the UK and Spain. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 74(63), 1219–1234. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2019-1380
  • Una encuesta en plena pandemia detecta un fuerte recelo en España hacia la UE [A survey at the height of the pandemic reveals strong mistrust of the EU in Spain]. (2020, May 21). infoLibre. https://bit.ly/3YKC9GH
  • Vaccari, C. (2017). Online mobilization in comparative perspective: Digital appeals and political engagement in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Political Communication, 34(1), 69–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2016.1201558
  • Van Dijk, T. (2017). Discourse and power. Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Zurutuza Muñoz, C., & Lafuente Pérez, P. (2012). Europa a nuestra medida: La alfabetización electoral de los ciudadanos españoles a través de la televisión [Europe made to measure: The electoral literacy of Spanish citizens through television]. ICONO14, 10(3), 228–257. https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v10i3.202