European Media Output

This book is originally a dissertation submitted to the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies to the Department of Politics and International Relations in the Faculty of Social Science in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Political Strategy and Communications in April 2008. The dissertation was written under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Saalfeld, and awarded a grade of Distinction. The study investigates the (dis-)proportionality of stakeholder representation in the mediated European public sphere. The aim is neither to critique the media covering European Union affairs nor the European Union's administration but rather to uncover how a combination of various implicit hierarchies of news production and particularly the outcome of source selection and use, shapes media output in favour of influence and authority rather than balance.