Solidarity Framing at the Union of National and Transnational Public Spheres

Abstract

Researchers have often overlooked transnational media due to a perceived lack of outlets and audiences that are truly transnational in scope. For communication scholars who examine the European Public Sphere, the dominant paradigm currently focuses on the “Europeanization” of national public spheres. While this approach has yielded important insights, the last 20 years have seen the proliferation of transnational media outlets, two of which are based in Europe. This paper focuses on the means by which one such media outlet, France 24, constructs and maintains a public sphere that is transnational in identity and reach. This is illustrated through a framing analysis of the France 24 program, Talking Europe, where our findings indicate that pan-European broadcasters simultaneously construct audience identification with national and transnational public spheres, by presenting frames of integration, harmonization, and solidarity. Ultimately, the analysis underscores three important outcomes: (1) transnational media play a vital role in our understanding of transnational public spheres, (2) transnational media are defined not only by geographic reach and audience share but also by particular forms of news coverage and content frames, and (3) framing theory can be used as a means of examining transnational media and transnational public spheres in future and ongoing research.