Europe in the spanish press

Abstract

In our political system media are not neutral agents but play a central role in political institutions legitimacy. The consolidation of the EU Project means the rising of a supranational institutional framework with new actors and institutions, often critizised because of their lack of democratic legitimacy. All these questions bring us to ask about the role of media in EU construction process, how media report the process to the citizenship and what elements are in the agenda setting. This article tries to put light on this issue analyzing media information regarding EU integration process in the Spanish press. To do it we analyze five legislative and diplomatic issues in the EU context. Main differences perceived between different cases coverages allows us to conclude that European issues are linked to the national media agenda and that are an element of legitimacy of political attitudes of national political class.