THE PRESENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN

LITHUANIAN REGIONAL NEWSPAPERS

The aim of this research is:

to find out what ways have been chosen by Lithuanian regional newspapers to deal with the issue of joining the EU.

The paper concentrates on these questions:

1. What are the topics of the articles related to joining the

EU that are published in regional newspapers?2. What is the tone of the articles about the EU? Is it

positive, negative or neutral?3. What is the type of the articles? Are they simple

newswire reports, interviews, analytical or feature articles?

4. How many articles are presented on the first pages of the newspapers, i.e. how important are they regarded?

Hypothesis of this paper : regional newspapers do not always present the most important information concerning the issue of the EU.

Top five national newspapers in Lithuania

24.6

8.4

7.3

6.1

5

46.2

15.1

12.4

9.4

9.9

0 10 20 30 40 50

Lietuvos rytas

Respublika

Vakaro žinios

Kauno diena

Lietuvos žinios

New

sp

ap

er

titl

e

Readership,%

Average readership,% Total readership,%

Source:SIC Gullap Media

Top five regional newspapers in Lithuania in winter

2001-2002

3.9

3.8

2.1

2

1.9

7.5

5.6

4.6

3.1

3.6

0 2 4 6 8

Vakaro žinios

Šiaulių kraštas

Klaipėda

Sekundė

Vakarų ekspresas

New

spap

er ti

tle

Readership,%

Total readership Average readership

Source: SIC Gallup Media

Regional newspapers chosen for the project:

1. ‘Kauno diena’, for the county of Kaunas (circulation-43000 copies)2. ‘Klaipėda’, for the county of Klaipėda (circulation-30000 copies)3. ‘Šiaulių kraštas’, for the county of Šiauliai (circulation-20000 copies)4. ‘Panevėžio rytas’, for the county of Panevėžys (circulation-10500

copies)5. ‘Utenis’, for the county of Utena (circulation-10000 copies)6. ‘Alytaus naujienos’, for the county of Alytus (circulation-6500 copies)7. ‘Penktadienio žemaitis’, for the county of Telšiai (circulation-5000

copies)8. ‘Suvalkietis’, for the county of Marijampolė (circulation-6000 copies)9. ‘Tauragiškių balsas’, for the county of Tauragė (circulation-4000

copies)10. ‘Gimtoji žemė’, for the county of Vilnius (circulation-4500 copies)

The period which was analyzed:

lasts from July 2001 to January 2002. This period was chosen because two important events in the EU happened: the common European currency, EURO, was introduced in almost all member countries of the organization, and there was also a meeting of the member states in Laeken, Belgium in December, 2001.

Method of the research: content and quantitative analyses

The most popular EU topics in Lithuanian

regional newspapers

• The introduction of EURO

• The European Union and Lithuania

• EU internal and foreign policies

• The EU expansion

• Agriculture questions

• Citizens’ attitude towards the EU

The EU topics in ‘Kauno diena’

26%

22% 22%

17%

9%

4%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

The

introduction

of EURO

The

European

Union and

Lithuania

EU internal

and f oreign

policies

The EU

expansion

Agriculture

questions

Citizens'

attitutude

towards EU

The EU topics in ‘Klaipėda’ 40%

30%

11% 10%

20%

0%0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%

Th

e i

ntr

od

uc

tio

n o

f E

UR

O

Th

e E

uro

pe

an

Un

ion

an

d

Lit

hu

an

ia

EU

in

tern

al

an

d f

ore

ign

po

lic

ies

Th

e E

U e

xpa

ns

ion

Ag

ric

ult

ure

qu

es

tio

ns

Cit

ize

ns

' att

itu

tud

e

tow

ard

s E

U

The EU topics in ‘Šiaulių kraštas’

33%

22%

11% 11%

22%

0%0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%T

he

intr

odu

cti

on

of

EU

RO

Th

e E

uro

pe

n

Unio

n a

nd

Lit

hua

nia

EU

inte

rna

l

an

d f

ore

ign

po

licie

s

Th

e E

U

ex

pan

sio

n

Ag

ricu

ltu

re

qu

esti

on

s

Citiz

en

s'

att

itutu

de

tow

ard

s E

U

The EU topics in ‘Utenis’

20%

39%

7%

39%

0% 0%0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%

The

introduction of

EURO

The European

Union and

Lithuania

EU internal

and f oreign

policies

The EU

expansion

Agriculture

questions

Citizens'

attitutude

towards EU

The EU topics in ‘Gimtoji Žemė’

0%

20% 20%

60%

0% 0%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

The

introduction of

EURO

The European

Union and

Lithuania

EU internal

and f oreign

policies

The EU

expansion

Agriculture

questions

Citizens'

attitutude

towards EU

The EU topics in ‘Penktadienio žemaitis’

0%

11% 11%

33%

44%

11%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

The

introduction of

EURO

The European

Union and

Lithuania

EU internal

and f oreign

policies

The EU

expansion

Agriculture

questions

Citizens'

attitutude

towards EU

The EU topics in ‘Suvalkietis’

0%

25% 25%

0%

25% 25%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

The introduction ofEURO

Adequacy ofLithuanian standards

to EU standards

EU internal andforeign policies

The EU expansion Agriculture questions Citizens' attitutudetow ards EU

The EU topics in ‘Tauragiškių balsas’

22%

56%

0% 0%

22%

0%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

The

introduction

of EURO

The

European

Union and

Lithuania

EU internal

and f oreign

policies

The EU

expansion

Agriculture

questions

Citizens'

attitutude

towards EU

The EU topics in ‘Alytaus naujienos’

20% 20%

0%

40%

20%

0%0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

The

introduction

of EURO

The

European

Union and

Lithuania

EU internal

and f oreign

policies

The EU

expansion

Agriculture

questions

Citizens'

attitutude

towards EU

The EU topics in ‘Panevėžio rytas’

0% 0%

50%

0% 0%

50%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

The

introduction of

EURO

The European

Union and

Lithuania

EU internal and

f oreign policies

The EU

expansion

Agriculture

questions

Citizens'

attitutude

towards EU

The total results of the EU topics in all

regional newspapers

24%

21%

16% 16%15%

8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

The European

Union and

Lithuania

The EU

expansion

Agriculture

questions

The

introduction

of EURO

EU internal

and f oreign

policies

Citizens'

attitutude

towards EU

The tone of the EU articles in Lithuanian

regional newspapers

• positive

• negative

• neutral

Tone groups of the EU articles in Lithuanian regional newspapers

• Most of the articles – neutral

• All articles – neutral or negative

Tone of articles in ‘Kauno diena’

'Kauno diena'

20%

5%

75%

Positive Negative Neutral

Tone of the EU articles in ‘Suvalkietis’

'Suvalkietis'

0% 25%

75%

Positive Negative Neutral

Tone of the EU articles in

‘Alytaus naujienos’

'Alytaus naujienos'

60%0%

40%

Positive Negative Neutral

Tone of the EU articles in ‘Gimtoji žemė’

'Gimtoji žemė'

0%

0%

100%

Positive Negative Neutral

Types of the EU articles:

• Newswire report

• Feature article

• Analitical article

• Interview

• Other

Type groups of the EU articles in Lithuanian regional newspapers

• Most of the articles – newswire reports

• Most of the articles – feature articles

Types of the EU articles in ‘Gimtoji žemė’

'Gimtoji žemė'

100%

0%0%0%0%

Newswire report Feature article Analytical article

Interview Others

Types of the EU articles in ‘Klaipėda’

'Klaipėda'

70%10%

0%

10%10%

Newswire report Feature article Analytical article

Interview Others

Types of the EU articles in ‘Utenis’

'Utenis'

38%

54%

8%

Newswire report Feature article Analytical article

Interview Others

Types of the EU articles in ‘Panevėžio

rytas’

'Panevėžio rytas'

50% 50%

Newswire report Feature article Analytical article

Interview Others

Types of the EU articles in all newspaper

All newspapers5%

3%

6%

55%31%

Newswire report Feature article Analytical article

Interview Others

Number of articles presented on the first pages

6%

94%

on the first pages

on other pages

Number of articles presented on the first pages of all newspapers

Conclusions

Hypothesis given in the introduction of the paper can be proved partly:

• Most of the Lithuanian regional newspapers tried to present the most important information about the EU events.

• However, articles dealing with these issues were not given the most of attention, as for example, agriculture questions are also important in most of the counties.

• Most of the articles were neutral • Most of the articles were newswire messages• Only 6% of the articles were presented on the first pages• In general, regional newspapers did not provide much information

about the EU

Thank you for your attention