`How does One Become a Good European?': The British Press and European Integration

Abstract

European integration is far from being only a political and economic problem but has also led to social and cultural challenges, such as the definition of national identity vs European identity and the relationship between member states. There is also a growing sense that, for the nonexpert citizen, the increasing complexity of the EU's institutions and policies means a de facto denial of access to information and policy-making. This paper investigates how the British daily press has been reflecting and responding to these challenges. National stereotyping, for example, is shown to play a key role in the portrayal of France and Germany. Also, data from the Sun are used to illustrate strategies employed to make elite discourse more accessible to the lay reader.