Road to Europe: discourse analysis of European integration in the Serbian media

Abstract

By drawing upon existing research and data, this paper aims to provide a more comprehensive insight into how official politics in Serbia shape narratives surrounding European integration in the media. The main focus of this study is to identify and analyze the dominant discourses within the most influential media, thereby assessing the current status of the European idea. Media treatment of Serbia’s EU integration process reflects the attitudes of political elite. While the ruling coalition consistently asserts that Serbia’s strategic goal is EU member- ship, it pursues policies that pull the society away from fundamental European norms and values, and most influential media follow such contradictory path, resulting in inconsistent and ambivalent narratives. This prevalence of ambiguity has led to the emergence of a discernible anti-European sentiment, which has been particularly pronounced in the midst of recent global crises, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. In addition, existing narratives about European integration reflect polarization in Serbian society and in the media. The effect of media capture on citizens’ views on accession is noteworthy as their views are pimarily shaped by the type of media they consume – either pro-government or critical media. It is concluded that the release of captured media would give rise to a new narratives concerning Serbia’s European integration

Oslanjajući se na postojeća istraživanja i podatke, ovaj rad ima za cilj da pruži sveobuhvatniji uvid u to kako zvanična politika u Srbiji oblikuje narative o evropskim integracijama u medijima. Glavni fokus ove studije je da se identifikuju i analiziraju dominantni diskursi unutar najuticajnijih medija, kako bi se procenio trenutan status evropske ideje. Medijski tretman procesa evropskih integracija Srbije odražava stavove političke elite. Dok vladajuća koalicija dosledno tvrdi da je strateški cilj Srbije članstvo u EU, ona vodi politiku koja odvlači društvo od osnovnih evropskih normi i vrednosti, a većina uticajnih medija sledi takav kontradiktorni put, što rezultira nedoslednim i ambivalentnim narativima. Ova rasprostranjenost dvosmislenosti narativa dovela je i do pojave uočljivog antievropskog raspoloženja, koje je posebno bilo izraženo u vreme nedavnih globalnih kriza, pre svega pandemije COVID-19 i sukoba u Ukrajini. Pored toga, postojeći narativi o evropskim integracijama odražavaju polarizaciju srpskog društva i medija. Uticaj zarobljavanja medija na stavove građana o pristupanju Evropskoj uniji jeste očigledan, jer se građani opredeljuju u odnosu na to da li se informišu posredstvom provladinih ili kritičkih medija. Zaključuje se da će oslobađanje zarobljenih medija dovesti do novih narativa o evropskim integracijama Srbije.