Journalisms in Europe: Comparing Reporting Styles and Levels of Europeanization in Eastern and Western Europe.

This paper presents a systematic comparison of online newspaper coverage comprising both Eastern and Western European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom). Countries were sampled according to the classification developed by Hallin and Mancini (liberal, democratic-corporatist, polarized-pluralist countries) as well as according to membership status in the European Union (6 old members, 2 members that have joined in 2004, and 2 members joining in 2007). Analysis focuses on three dimensions: similarity in reporting styles (i.e. factualness of new reports), vertical Europeanization of news (focus on EU matters and "domestication" of EU issues) as well as horizontal Europeanization (intensity and patterns of mutual observation between countries). Correlational, regression, and cluster analyses are employed in studying the data. Results show that there are no systematic country differences in reporting styles, thus lending support to the homogenization thesis. Levels of both vertical and horizontal Europeanization in news can be explained by EU membership status, with different patterns emerging for the 2 dimensions of Europeanization. In mutual observation between EU member countries, Western European countries get the bulk of attention but this can be explained by their bigger size, not by a particular neglect of the East or by the duration of EU membership. In conclusion, more theory-driven explanatory research on country differences in news reporting is advocated. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]