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Steffi Retzlaff
McMaster University
Representing the European Union
in Canadian print media
Agenda
The European Union: friend or foe?
• The project: research questions, corpus and topics
• Methodology: Critical Discourse Analysis
• Textual analysis: some key tools in the critical reading of
media representations on the EU
- The climate change debate
- EU identity / 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome
- The EU – Lybia ‘deal’
• Conclusion
The project: assumptions and research questions
Central assumptions:
• Media recognition and construction of EU contributes
towards the determination of the EU’s international
effectiveness  Media have the power to influence public
debates and policy making
Two overarching research question:
• To what extent are European actors and issues actually
covered in Canadian newspapers? What roles are ascribed
to the EU?
– a) What values, characteristics, qualities, features are attributed to
the EU?
– b) What arguments and argumentation schemes are utilized to
justify and legitimize their stance towards the EU?
– c) From what point of view are these characteristics, evaluations,
attributions and arguments expressed?
The project: corpus
Seven Canadian news outlets:
• Globe and Mail and National Post
• The Vancouver Sun and Calgary Herald,
the Montreal Gazette, (Ottawa Citizen, Chronicle Herald
and Telegram)
• The corpus covers articles on the EU from 1 January to 31
December 2007
The project: topics
The corpus can be divided into two broad categories:
• Domestic dimension
– EU and EU member states (political and economic
issues)
– EU and countries which are currently aspiring EU
membership
• International dimension
– EU’s role in the world (political and economic issues,
democracy and human rights, climate change)
– EU-Canada relations (political, economic and social
issues)
The methodology: Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
CDA
Textual analysis
Linguistic analysis
Macro - / micro-level
analysis
Analysis of
social context
Intertextual analysis
General tendencies in media coverage on EU
• two competing discourses: a Euro-skeptical and a
Euro-friendly discourse
• reflects the ideological tendencies of the newspapers
• both discourses display specific expectations as to
how the EU should or should not act according to its
specific role
Textual analysis: some key tools in the critical
reading of media representations on the EU
Language use is language choice
Meaning is generated from the choices made, or not
made, by text producers
The question now is, what choices do Canadian media
reporters and editors make?
Lexical choices: Naming and reference
The EU is named or referred to as, for example,
• (unelected) bureaucrats; ‘red-tape monster’; club; bloc;
establishment; a cartel of governments; America‘s
estranged transatlantic partner
“Elites in France and Germany want to revive the
rejected Euro constitution – a document that would move
even more power to unelected bureaucracies” (Post)
• the silent empire; the largest, most integrated community of
liberal democracies in the world; a voluntary empire, a
commonwealth of consent; a successful enterprise plagued
with self-doubt (T.G. Ash Globe and Mail)
• a successful anti-war device
Lexical choices: Predication
• “The gnomes of Brussels (or of the Palais de l'Elysee)
sent France's presidential plane to pick up the Bulgarian
nurses from Libya, with France's first lady, the
photogenic Cecilia Sarkozy, flanked by Benita FerreroWaldner, the EU's attractive commissioner for foreign
affairs.” (National Post)
Source attribution / voice
The climate change debate
• “What Europeans have done is put the bar way up there for
us,” said John Bennett, executive director of the Climate
Action Network. We want to see the Canadian government
use the European Union as the model, rather than the
Unites States.” (Calgary Herald)
• “Stephane Dion has dramatically revamped his approach to
climate change …. Mr. Dion said his new approach was
inspired by ambitious new plans from the European Union.”
(Globe)
Positive self-presentation and negative otherpresentation
The climate change debate
• “the European Union declared that it had practically saved
the planet” (Post)
• “In an orgy of self-flagellation, Britain placed itself on a
pedestal of carbon purity this week” (Globe)
•
“In addition to Canada, The U.S., Japan, Australia, China
and India have all announced emission reduction schemes
… They contain real, hard emission targets and they
propose 2050 as their deadline …. Each offers a marked
contrast from European countries’ official policies, which
have shiny exteriors, but hollow cores.” (Post)
Speech Acts: A promise is a promise is a promise
The climate change debate
• “With European Commission president José Manuel
Barroso claiming that Europe will lead the way on climate
change, the EU has promised to cut CO2 emissions by
20% below 1990-levels by 2020. Of course, with the EU
already having promised an 8% cut by next year in the
Kyoto protocol, this new target seems slightly less
ambitious.
• “… as with many other lofty promises from the EU – the
new global warming agreement will carry a high
probability of failure. (Post)
Sentence construction: Transitivity
The climate change debate: From green champion to
green ‘loser’?
• “The failure of Germany and its European Union partners
to push through their key goals stands for a diplomatic
defeat that epitomizes Europe’s shrinking influence in
international climate negotiations. … Now, President
Bush has decided to don Europe’s traditional role as a
green champion. Now, it’s the United States that is
demanding more action on climate change …. Bush
has now seized the initiative on climate politics and is
setting the agenda for international negotiations.”
(National Post)
Sentence construction: Transitivity cont.
Action processes with Bush as the active agent:
• “Bush has taken on Europe’s role”
• “President Bush has decided to don Europe’s traditional
role as a green champion.”
• “Bush has now seized the initiative on climate politics
and is setting the agenda.”
• “it’s the United States that is demanding more action on
climate change”
• “Bush has now taken on the role as suave intermediary
between Europe and Asia”
• “Bush has recast the United States as a “green” bridgebuilder”
Sentence construction: Transitivity cont.
The climate change debate: Same discursive event –
different view
• “That vague commitment dashed European hopes of an
agreement to reduce emissions to 50 per cent below
1990 levels by 2050. But the mere fact they agreed to
pursue further cuts kept hopes for a longer-term deal
alive. As well, U.S. President George W. agreed to bring
his plan to convene talks with the top 15 emitters.”
(Globe)
Categorization and Polarization
The EU’s 50th anniversary – Identity issues
• As Europe’s leaders celebrate the European Union’s
50th birthday with some of the finest ingredients the
continent can offer here yesterday, ordinary Europeans
were sampling simpler fare.
(Montreal Gazette/Agence France-Presse)
Categorization and Polarization cont.
Ordinary citizens
EU leaders
“a multinational street restaurant”
“the central Berlin residence,
Bellevue Palace”
“citizens stood outdoors at tables to European leaders kicked off
eat their food”
festivities with a gala concert at the
Berliner Philharmonie.”
Ouzo, sangria
“one of Germany’s finest red wines,
a heavy hitting pinot noir which can
cost hundreds of euros a bottle”
Crisp Belgian waffles, kebabs,
smoked sausage, paella “which
… was a bargain at 4.50 euros
(about 7$)”
“a sumptuous four course feast”
“A starter of pickled trout …
creamed spinach soup … a main
course of ox filet braised in
Burgundy wine … a ”semi-frozen”
apple dessert.”
Argumentation: The topos of threat and fear
• “Suspicion is also high over such struggling democracies
as Bulgaria and Romania and the prospect that thousands
of economic migrants will overrun western capitals.” (Los
Angeles Times/Gazette)
• “There is also public concern over the membership
ambitions of Turkey, Albania and Ukraine, which many in
the West see as a threat to wages and welfare systems.
Ten former socialist countries joined over the last three
years. Those fears have added to disillusionment with the
EU among citizens […]. (Associated Press/Gazette)
Argumentation: The topos of threat and fear cont.
Canada-EU free-trade agreement
• „Would the EU extend these mobility rights to
Canada/Quebec) ... We wouldn‘t get absolute
European mobility rights; nor would we want them. A
transatlantic swap of unrestricted rights could open
Canada to casual entry by economic refugees and
sophisticated criminal organizations.“ (Globe)
Irrelevant argumentation and playing on the
audiences emotions
EU – Libya case (George Jonas National Post)
1. “On Wednesday, the bullet-riddled body of 42-year-old Bae
Hyung-kyu was discovered in the Qarabagh district of
Afghanistan, […].
2. There was a trace of bewilderment in the Taliban spokesman's
tone as he responded to South Korea's outrage. […].
3. Spokesman Ahmadi sounded genuinely perplexed. What, he
seemed to ask, was wrong with the proposed transaction?
Isn't this the way human affairs are conducted in warfare or,
for that matter, commerce?
4. France's President, Nicolas Sarkozy, seemed to endorse the
Taliban's view.
Irrelevant argumentation and playing on the
audiences emotions cont.
EU – Libya case (George Jonas National Post)
12. "The liberation of the medics is an example of the power
of the EU," commented a Bulgarian journalist, Velislava
Dureva. Well, no. Rescuing the medics and guillotining
Gaddafi would have demonstrated the EU's power, but
paying off a bandit regime has only demonstrated Europe's
moral confusion.
I'd even say it has contributed, indirectly, to Mr. Bae, a
deputy pastor of his Presbyterian Church, being gunned
down by his Taliban captors the next day. It happened to
be his birthday, according to church officials.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------** A Korean aid worker was killed by the Taliban in
Afghanistan, because the EU paid a ransom to Libya**
Summary and conclusion
• Various international partners, e.g. NGOs and the
opposition (Liberals) conceive of EU as international actor
and even world leader (e.g. human rights, animal protection
rights and climate change)
• It seems that pro-American news outlets perceive this
development as a threat to the Unites States’ ‘unipolar
moment’ in international politics.
• The Euro-sceptical discourse does not project the EU as a
leader; it challenges the self-image of the EU as a leader
• the EU “is an international actor if it constructs itself as one
vis-à-vis the rest of the world and if other international
actors conceive of it as such.” (Larson 2004: 69)