How did the British media represent European political parties during the European parliament elections, 2014: A Europeanized media agenda?

Abstract

The European Parliament election of 2014 generated much interest on account of the rise of a whole array of populist ‘anti-EU’ parties. This was widely reported in the British media but did that coverage give British news consumers an insight into the character of these parties, where they stood in relation to one another and where they stood in relation to Britain’s own UKIP? This article sets out to examine not only how much coverage there was in the British media about European political parties but also whether that coverage enabled citizens to get a sense of the political positioning of populist anti-EU parties. These questions touch on the extent to which British media reflect and comment on populist parties, European affairs and hence on the Europeanization of the news agenda.