HEADING TOWARDS A EUROPEANIZED ROMANIAN PUBLIC SPHERE? ANALYSIS OF THE EUROPEANIZATION PROCESS THROUGH MEDIA COVERAGE AND FRAMING OF THE EURO CRISIS SUBJECTS

The paper analyses the role of media in the Europeanization process, in determining the transition from a Romanian public sphere to a Europeanized Romanian public sphere, by carrying out a research on media coverage of the Euro crisis subjects. Nowadays, EU is considered to experience decisive moments regarding its future, especially in the context of the Euro crisis which makes the Europeanization process a difficult one since citizens retrieve their support. Media have a decisive role in this process if we consider the frames that were used in covering the EU crisis. Media specifics in covering and framing these subjects are a key element within the theoretical framework of the light public sphere model or the realist paradigm (Claes de Vreese) that guides this research. Also, media constitute the basis in transcending the parochial public sphere to reach the comprehensive Europeanization. Through framing, national media can treat the subject from a European perspective by relating to events, policies, actors at the EU level, or from a national perspective, by relating to national actors or to the national consequences of the events. Therefore, media can maintain national public spheres or contribute to their Europeanization. Thus, based on the concept of public sphere as defined by Rirgen Habermas, this paper analyzes the role of media in making the transition to Europeanized national public spheres, respectively from the model of the ad hoc public sphere to the model of the light public sphere. The research consisted in a content analysis of a corpus of 5574 news on the two main online news portals in Romania, from 15 October to 13 November, 2011. The paper aimed at analyzing how the Romanian media have addressed the Euro crisis in a crucial period for establishing the EU's future, for taking measures against the crisis and for saving Greece, namely the two main events: the Euro summit from 26 October 2011 in Brussels and the G-20 summit, from 4 November 2011 in Cannes. The research tackled also issues as the visibility and the prominence of the European subjects in the online media, the type of actors that were mentioned in the news, and media frames used in covering the euro crisis subject. Data indicates a lack of real connectivity to the European project and its future, and even though media make the transition from the ad-hoc public sphere to the Europeanized national public sphere, an embrace of the second paradigmatic model is not yet fully achieved. Therefore, the Europeanization process is still in its early stages.