When enough is enough?: dynamics of the EU representations in Asia-Pacific print media

Abstract

This study is a part of the research project “Public, Elite and Media Perceptions of the European Union in Asia Pacific Region: A comparative Study” which is broadly concerned with how information about the EU is organized and structured in media discourses in Australia, Korea, New Zealand, and Thailand, and focuses on how that information compares with public and elite perceptions of the EU in those countries. More specifically, this study draws on evidence relating to the flow and structure of EU news in print media in the four respective countries. To examine that, a systematic analytical approach featuring a set of formal characteristics of dynamics, length, placement, sources, leading topics, degree of centrality and foci of domesticity is employed. Data comes from the daily coverage of the EU in 20 influential regional dailies in the first half of 2004. Results of this research are viewed as a baseline from which to consider dominating images, perceptions and attitudes towards the EU in Asia-Pacific in a greater detail