Romania's Accession to the Schengen Area: Social Perception, Media Framing and Public Debate
The Center for Research in Communication within the National School of Political and Administrative Studies is currently running the research project Romania's Accession to the Schengen Area - Social Perception, Media Framing and Public Debate.
Theoretical framework
The European public space research is at the intersection of political sciences and communication sciences. Investigation of this concept has intensified in recent years due to the gap between the European Union understood in its institutional dimension - structures, officials, treaties, rules - and "the Union of citizens". European Institutions have been accused of a lack of transparency, and the negative response of citizens in the context of some crucial referendum was interpreted as a democratic deficit, which was later renamed "communication deficit." Programmatic documents of the European Union have brought into focus the need to build a European public space. Investigation of this European public space has proven to be a demanding approach, both theoretically and empirically. Regarding the theoretical side, it was not yet reached a consensus on a universally accepted definition and model. There are opinions according to which there is not a European public space, taking into account the lack of a collective European identity, lack of involvement in affairs from a European perspective, the absence (or reduced visibility) of European issues in national media, absence of European media, etc.
Literature outlines three models of European public space: a) development
of a single European public space, across the European Union; b) Europeanization
of national public spaces; c) emergence of a European public space as
a result of segmentation of transnational public spheres. A relative
consensus was recently articulated around the idea that the most viable
model both conceptually and practically, is the Europeanization of national
public spaces. From this perspective, it is more accurate to speak of
"European Public Spaces" than to limit to the idea that the
emergence of a single European public space is possible (Risse, 2003;
Van de Steeg, 2004; Trenz, 2005, 2008; Eriksen, 2007; Eder, 2009). Europeanization
of national public spaces implies the promotion of a European perspective,
and not national, when discussing issues regarding the European Union.
The actors who facilitate the transmission of messages from EU’s level
to citizens have a fundamental role in Europeanizing the national public
spaces – such as media, representatives of European institutions and
of public institutions from Member States, etc.
The present research is based on this model of a European public space
- the Europeanization of public spaces, aiming to empirically test the
model in a particular context: the period that followed after the letter
sent by the French and German Interior Ministers, in which they asked
the European Commission and the states that hold or will hold the EU
presidency, to postpone Romania's and Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen
space until a later date than March 2011.
Fitting the research within the Center for Research in Communication’s strategy
The research project falls under the topic "European public sphere",
one of the main directions of research within the Center. The research
has an interdisciplinary nature that comes both from the communication
sciences area (agenda setting theory, framing and priming) and from
political sciences (studies of Europeanization, public sphere, European
public space, the Europeanization of national public spheres, renationalization
of public spheres in EU countries). The specific subject "Schengen"
- media coverage, public perception and debate is approached from the
broader perspective of a European public sphere theme.
Objectives
a. Studying and deepening theoretical perspectives on European public
sphere issue;
b. Framing the subject "Romania's accession to the Schengen area"
in the European public sphere issue (the Europeanization of national
public sphere);
c. Research on public perception of Romania's accession to the Schengen
area;
d. Research on Schengen subject coverage in Romanian media - TV and
online (setting the public agenda, framing the subject, frames used);
e. Research on Schengen subject coverage in the media of other member
states;
f. Investigation of public actors’ positioning towards the "Schengen"
subject;
g. Shaping a conceptual and methodological framework for investigating
the European public sphere issue;
h. Dissemination of research results.
Research methodology
A. Quantitative methods
a. Sociological research based on surveys conducted on a nationally representative sample, to investigate three key aspects related to how people currently perceive the Schengen issue. The investigation will be based on the following research questions:
RQ1. Which is the level of people’s knowledge regarding the Schengen
area?
RQ2. Which is the people's perception about the benefits / consequences
of entering the Schengen area?
RQ3. From where do people take information regarding the Schengen area?
b. Content analysis of major TV news and online information sources for the period January- March 2011, in order to capture the public visibility of the "Schengen" subject, how media (television and online media) have set the public agenda during that period and how they have integrated (framed) the subject.
Corpus analysis will consist of:
• all prime time news broadcasted by the main generalist TV channels
in Romania: TVR 1, ProTV, Antena 1, and main TV channels specialized
in news stream, Antena 3, Realitatea TV.
• all news transmitted by the main online news portals in Romania (hotnews.ro,
ziare.com) and by the main news sites of the most visible online newspapers
(Adevărul, Gândul).
The research questions that will guide the analysis are:
RQ1. How visible is the Schengen subject within online media vs. television
in the preliminary period for taking the decision regarding Romania’s
accession to the Schengen area? Which is its place in the media agenda?
RQ2. How is the Schengen subject framed within online media vs. television
in the preliminary period for taking the decision regarding Romania’s
accession to the Schengen area?
RQ3. Which are the most visible issues within online media vs. television
in the preliminary period for taking the decision regarding Romania’s
accession to the Schengen area?
RQ4. Which are the public actors who have tackled the subject in the
media?
B. Qualitative methods
a. Discourse analysis of the main debates that focus on Romania's joining the Schengen area, broadcasted in the preliminary period for taking the decision regarding Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, running on the main TV news channels specialized in news stream, Antena 3, Realitatea, as well as on the public television channel TVR 1.
Research questions:
RQ1. Which is the weight of the subject within thematic channels compared with the public channel TVR1?
RQ2. Which are the main directions in orientating the public opinion about the Romania’s entry into the Schengen area?
RQ3. Which is the position expressed in the media by today's major political actors regarding Romania’s accession to the Schengen area?
RQ4. How do media representatives (moderators) position within news channels vs. the public channel TVR1 in addressing the issue of Romania's entry into the Schengen area?
b. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with key political actors of the moment to investigate views of various political parties and of prominent foreign policy players (eg. Foreign ministers).
Research questions:
RQ1. Which is the position of present political actors on Romanian political scene regarding the issue of Romania’s accession to the Schengen area?
RQ2. Which is the view of political actors present in the current Romanian political scene regarding the mistakes in preparing for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area?
RQ3. Which are the possible short-term solutions for solving the issue of Romania's joining the Schengen area?
Project team:
Coordinator
Dr. Alina Bârgăoanu
Members
Dr. Paul Dobrescu
Dr. Nicoleta Corbu
Dr. Elena Negrea
Dr. Mădălina Boţan
PhD. student Adina Marincea
PhD. student Georgiana Udrea
PhD. student Roxana Dascălu
Collaborators: 15 students (within Bachelor Degree Studies and Master
Programs)
Students Coordinators: Oana Ştefăniţă, Flavia Durach (MS in Project
Management in English, first year)
Students involved:
Andreea Bîrsan, Faculty of Communication and Public Relations, third
year
Mihaela Gingirov, MA in Communication and Advertising in English
Adina Grigoriu, MS in Project Management
Maria Lesaru, MS in Project Management in English
Monica Lupşa, MA in Communication and Advertising in English
Andreea Parfene, MA in Communication and Public Relations
Daiana Rădulescu, MA in Communication and Advertising in English
Cristina Tudor, MS in Project Management in English
Alexandra Zachi, MA in Communication and Public Relations
Florin Zeru, MA in Political Communication