Representations of EU-Criticism in Daily Newspapers

This paper compares the representations of EU-criticism and EU-critics in major daily newspapers in Finland, Sweden and Estonia (Helsingin Sanomat, Dagens Nyheter and Postimees, respectively), 2000-2006. It looks at the tools used to frame EU-criticism in so-called quality newspapers, which as a rule display more favorable attitudes toward the EU than the “yellow press”. By combining social and linguistic analysis, I discuss the contexts, in which EU-criticism appears in the three papers, as well as how it is positioned within those contexts. In other words, I analyze the manifest and latent tools employed to create an image of EU-critics as people and EU-criticism as a political opinion.

Katri Vallaste

Aleksanteri Institute

Töölönkatu 3A (P.O. Box 42)
00014 University of Helsinki

E-mail: katri.vallaste@helsinki.fi