Beyond the Eurosceptic/Europhile Divide: Towards a New Classification of EU News Coverage in the UK Press

Abstract

Newspapers are typically categorised as being either Eurosceptic or Europhile. However, this classification is insufficient and misleading when applied to news reporting in the UK press. The term Euroscepticism has been usefully deconstructed into more nuanced and complex categories by researchers studying political parties and public opinion. A similar approach is now needed to better represent the complexities of EU news coverage. The current Eurosceptic/Europhile classification needs to be developed for two main reasons. First, it is misleading in that it fails to accurately map the landscape of EU news reporting across the press. Second, it is too simplistic in that it ignores important variations in EU news production – in particular, differences between tabloid and quality titles, and between Brussels based and national based journalists. This article will discuss these issues by drawing on new, empirical research into EU news production. It will conclude by proposing a new means of classifying EU news coverage in the UK press.