Reporting on TTIP project: Do EU - correspondents contribute to the Europeanization of TTIP media coverage?

The thesis looks at the role of the Brussels-based correspondents in the “Europeanisation” of the public political communication regarding EU policies. In the first place, it explains that despite the fact that the creation of the European Union (EU) has allowed for the development of a supranational political space, moving decision making in various fields from the national to the European level, the political debate over EU policies takes place mostly at national level. However, there are always certain EU topics that gain traction, at the same time, in the national debate of most EU Member-States, which indicates that a process of “Europeanisation” of national public spheres is under way. Nonetheless, theory suggests that for the “Europeanisation” of the public political communication, all participating actors must be genuinely concerned about the EU policies. The latter also means that the EU policies must be objectively covered by journalists, who are supposed to avoid reporting on them through the lenses of the national debate. The current thesis tests the above by using TTIP, an EU-led project, as a case study. In particular, the thesis examines whether Brussels-based correspondents working for national and pan-European media outlets contribute to the Europeanization of TTIP or they rather choose to cover the issue through national lenses. The thesis focuses on journalists as those opinion leaders whose role is to inform the public, especially, in topics that are not well known by the average European. TTIP is one such topic, which, due to its technical aspects and the time-consuming process of negotiations, requires extensive journalistic coverage. Through twelve semi-structured interviews with Brussels-based correspondents, the thesis seeks to establish whether the respondents contribute to the Europeanisation of TTIP. The answer is given focusing on the impact that the journalistic practices, the Brussels environment and the influence of the home organization have on the Brussels-based correspondents’s decision to cover TTIP from national or European lenses. The thesis concludes that factors such as the media economy, time constraints, perceptions about the audience and the news demand, and lack of specialisation, put insurmountable obstacles in the “Europeanisation” of TTIP.