“So, the European Union is 50…”

Canadians in particular are in danger of becoming Europhobic the result of hostile media coverage of Europe.... That is mistake, because the EU - portrayed by the media bloated, antidemocratic superstate - has been success story in creating an economically powerful union of 27 countries.1Whether Canadians will become as Europhobic the British is to some extent in the hands of the media, who play vital sociopolitical role. Since reality is partially discursively constructed, it is in essence the media's role to either frame the European Union - and its institutions, activities, and peoples - a bloated, anti-democratic superstate, or instead a success story, suggested by Klaus Hansen, former president of the European parliament. In this article, it is our goal to identify and analyze the linguistic means and strategies used to represent the EU in Canadian print media. We are particularly interested in the ways in which the E U' s 50th anniversary celebrated at time when Germany assumed the helm of the European Union (e.g., the presidency of the EU Council) - was covered by multiple media sources. While coverage of the EU tends to be rather sporadic and only intensifies in times of transatlantic crises (i.e., during the 1995 turbot war or the banning of Canadian seal fur products from European markets), this event provided unique opportunity for the media to report on the EU in broader terms, in ways somewhat detached from day-to-day business. Furthermore, it presented distinctive occasion to contemplate the advantages and disadvantages of the European project.We assume that both the presence and effectiveness of the EU on the world stage are fundamentally dependent on the ways it is recognized and constructed political entity. Media influence the ways expectations are generated vis-a-vis the European Union and its capabilities to deliver tangible results global actor. It has been noted that the existence of public that is shared amongst the citizens of the EU constitutes necessary condition for the democratization of the complex system of EU governance in general.2. The lack thereof is considered to be one of the root causes of the alleged democratic deficit. We argue that media play critical role in both respects - part of the problem and the solution - ultimately depending upon the ways they report E U- related issues. While the importance of an internal EU sphere has been emphasized in the literature, it is interesting to note that academic research has largely ignored the roles assumed by the media in creating the E U' s image abroad. Only very recently have some academics launched research projects to examine the E U' s perception in third countries in general and in Canada in particular.3This article is divided into four parts. The first describes our methodological design, the critical discourse analysis. This is followed by an overview of the history of the relationship between Canada and the EU. Next, we provide an example of discursive analysis of one of the topics that we have identified in our corpus. Selected media representations of the EU's 50th anniversary on 25 March 2007 are examined within the framework of our analysis. This is followed by brief assessment of the representation of the German EU council presidency in Canada's national print media. Finally, the conclusion summarizes the results of our analyses and discusses implications for future research.CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSISCritical discourse analysis has demonstrated rather successfully the many ways in which language use is linked to wider social and cultural processes.4 Scholars of discursive analysis start from assumptions that language and human society are inextricable and that much of the life and experience people share broadly occurs through language. They agree that discourse is practical and social activity reflecting and reproducing culture; it can therefore only be fully understood and analyzed in relation to the situations, institutions, and sociopolitical- s ocio cultural structures that frame particular discursive event. …

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