Institutional references (European/Global Public Sphere)
Authors: Lichtenstein Dennis 
Published: April 2021

The variable “institutional references” refers to international institutions which are mentioned in the coverage of national media outlets. International institutions can be related to the EU (e.g., the European Commission, the European Parliament) or other transnational communities (e.g., the NATO for the transatlantic community). Studies using the variable “institutional reference” aim to compare the share of mentions of transnational and national institutions and search for differences between countries and/or an increase of references over time. The variable has been measured in analyses on quality and the popular press and in single country studies as well as in comparative research. It is usually coded on the level of articles. Some studies consider headlines or the articles’ first paragraph only.

 

Field of application/theoretical foundation:

The variable “institutional references” is used to analyze the monitoring of transnational governance in national media outlets. It is one indicator for the vertical transnationalization of the public sphere (Koopmans & Erbe, 2004; Trenz, 2004; Wessler et al., 2008).

 

References/combination with other methods of data collection:

Research on vertical transnationalization of the public sphere has been combined with qualitative studies on editorial processes and interviews with journalists (Hepp et al., 2012). The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of which editorial processes and which occasions drive EU coverage.

 

Example studies:

Wessler et al. (2008); Hepp et al. (2016)

 

Information on Wessler et al., 2008

Authors: Hartmut Wessler, Bernhard Peters, Michael Brüggemann, Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw, Stefanie Sifft

Research question/research interest: Comparison of the transnationalization of public spheres in six countries

Object of analysis: National quality newspaper, popular press, regional papers

Timeframe of analysis: 1982–2013

Variable name/definition: Institutional references

 

Information on Hepp et al., 2016

Authors: Andreas Hepp, Monika Elsler, Swantje Lingenberg, Anne Mollen, Johanna Möller, Anke Offerhaus

Research question/research interest: Comparison of the transnationalization of public spheres in six countries

Object of analysis: National quality newspaper, popular press, regional papers

Timeframe of analysis: 1982–2013

 

Information about variable

Variable name/definition: Institutional references

“What international institutions were mentioned in the article? Institutions were coded, but concepts were not; for example the euro is not an institution. If the reference occurred in the header or the first paragraph of the article, it was coded as a primary institutional reference. Up to three primary institutional references could be coded per article. All international institutions that were mentioned in an article but had not already been coded as primary institutional references were coded as secondary institutional refences. Up to five secondary institutional references could be coded per article.” (Wessler et al., 2008, p. 212)

01 European Union in general (EU)

02 European Commission

03 European Council

04 Council of the European Union

05 European Parliament

06 European Court of Justice

07 European Central Bank

08 other EU institutions

09 EU Intergovernmental Conference

10 EU Convention

11 NATO

12 OECD

13 GATT/WTO

14 UN

15 UN Security Council

16 UN World Conference

17 Bretton Wood Institutions (World Bank, IMF)

18 Commonwealth

19 West European Union (WEU)

20 CSCE/OSCE (Conference/Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe)

21 European Court of Human Rights

22 EFTA

23 EEC

25 Warsaw Pact

997 Other institutions – please specify!

998 Unclear

999 Not applicable

Level of analysis: Article

Scale level: Nominal         

Reliability: Kappa 0.79

 

References

Wessler, H., Peters, B., Brüggemann, M., Kleinen-von Königslöw, K., Sifft, S. (2008). Transnationalization of Public Spheres. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hepp, A., Elsler, M., Lingenberg, S., Mollen, A., Möller, J., Offerhaus, A. (2016). The Communicative Construction of Europe. Cultures of Political Discourse, Public Sphere and the Euro Crisis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.