Journalists as commentators on European politics: educators, partisans or ideologues?

Questions of media performance seem to be inherently linked to any proposed solutions to Europe’s perceived ‘democratic deficit’. This article addresses a specific part of this story: the attempts by journalists from the national press to commentate politically on European affairs, and their selfperceptions about the opportunities and constraints facing them. The article’s main enquiry is whether commentating on Europe is different from commentating on national affairs. A model was constructed to assess types of political advocacy. The empirical study is based on interviews with a sample of journalists with four different roles, and from four different types of newspaper, from seven European countries. The main finding is that to the extent that they take on an advocacy role at all with regard to Europe, journalists see themselves as adopting an educational mode of raising public awareness, more than a political ‘partisan’ or ‘ideological campaign’ mode. Such findings are then discussed in relation to the broader issue of media performance over Europe.