Europe against the people: does eurosceptic news exposure relate to populist attitudes? Evidence from a linkage study across nine European countries

The media’s attention to populism is oftentimes associated with its electoral success. In this paper, we propose that the relationship between media coverage and populist beliefs among citizens can be understood as an over-time cultivation of support for populist ideology due to the media’s attention to populist ideas and policies. The media may devote attention to ideas high on the populist agenda, such as Euroscepticism, which may prime populist worldviews among individuals. To test this expectation, we first use a comparative study in nine EU countries for which we link content analytic data on negativity toward the EU in the media to panel survey data measuring populist attitudes. Overall, we find that exposure to negative news on the EU does not trigger populist attitudes. In a more detailed case study in the Netherlands across multiple panel waves, we do find that social media exposure is more likely to be associated with populist attitudes than traditional news exposure. Together, our study offers limited support for the notion that attention to Euroscepticism in established media can fuel populist attitudes among voters.