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