Journalism Across Boundaries the Promises and Challenges of Transnational and Transborder Journalism

Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Journalism across Boundaries The Promises and Challenges of Transnational and Transborder Journalism Kevin Grieves Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 journalism across boundaries Copyright © Kevin Grieves, 2012. All rights reserved. First published in 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978- 1- 137- 27264- 5 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Grieves, Kevin, 1966– Journalism across boundaries: the promises and challenges of transnational and transborder journalism / Kevin Grieves. p. cm. ISBN 978- 1- 137- 27264- 5 (hardback) 1. Journalism— Europe. 2. Mass media— Europe. 3. Journalism— Political aspects— Europe. I. Title. PN5110.G75 2012 070.4'3094— dc23 2012024717 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe Inc. First edition: December 2012 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Contents List of Figures vii Acknowledgments ix 1 Introduction: News Doesn’t Stop at the Border 1 2 Transnational Journalism in Europe: A Transnational Journalistic Culture? 19 3 Conflict and Commonality: The Evolution of Regional Transborder Journalism 39 4 Crossing Boundaries of Established Journalistic Routines 63 5 Regional Transborder Journalistic Content and the Mainstream- Niche Tension 91 6 Journalists and the Mediated Construction of Transborder Regions 113 7 “We Meet and We Decide Together”: Transborder Journalistic Collaboration 135 8 Conclusion: What Do Boundaries Mean to Journalism? 167 Notes 179 Bibliography 205 Index 221 Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 CHAPTER 1 Introduction News Doesn’t Stop at the Border he Schengen Bridge is a four- lane span across the picturesque Moselle River valley that carries traffic from Germany, on the eastern bank of Tthe river, to Luxembourg, on the western side. Once in Luxembourg, cars proceed down a long, winding offramp flanked by vineyards. Heading south a kilometer or so from this point, drivers reach the Luxembourg town of Schengen, a community of about 1,500 people located on the western bank of the Moselle. Just across the river, known as the Mosel in German, is the town of Perl in the German state of the Saarland. A bit south lies Apach, in the French province of Lorraine. In June 1985, representatives from France, Germany and the Benelux countries convened here aboard a boat and signed the first of what became known as the Schengen Agreements. These agreements provided for free passage between core European Union (EU) states, leading to the elimination of border controls. On a sunny September day, I drove into Schengen, parked my car along the bank of the Moselle, and set out on foot in search of traces of this momentous accord. I was curious as to what I would find; after all, many people (including some Europeans) are not even aware that Schengen is an actual town. “Schen- gen” has become journalistic and political shorthand for the idea of freedom of movement within the “Schengen zone” of 25 EU nations who signed on to the agreement’s provisions.1 This usage pattern has separated the name from the particular geographic context of the town and made it into something larger. But there is nothing particularly large in the town. When I asked a local man for directions to monuments commemorating the agreement, he seemed almost apologetic. He commented that tourists must frequently be disappointed in the modest scale of the existing markers. Along the bank of the Mosel, three columns with stars sit at the end of an “E”- shaped bed of plantings. In the Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 2 ● Journalism across Boundaries interior of the village, amid unassuming houses, is a chest- high stone column engraved with the words “Europe without borders” in French, German and Luxembourgish. Schengen is centrally situated, within a few hours’ drive of many of Western Europe’s metropolises, and the symbolism of the location forms the backdrop for one of the boldest moves toward unity on the European continent. No lon- ger do citizens need a passport to cross state boundaries in this zone, meaning that the doors are open for tens of thousands of cross border commuters. Yet Schengen boasts no major tourist attractions tied into this symbol of Euro- pean togetherness. This is a striking void given the historically close European connections between state- sponsored visions of national identity, tourism and monuments.2 In fact, nationalistic markers along the French- German border between the Saarland and Lorraine drew numerous tourist pilgrimages in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.3 However, the grand European experiment is largely uncharted terrain, and there are few guideposts— literal or symbolic— to guide citizens as they attempt to navigate this new form of transnational society. There are also few established markers to guide the daily work of a poten- tially transformative, continually evolving genre of journalism. The relevance of a place like Schengen to the people of the surrounding regions can be artic- ulated by journalists who cross European frontiers to report, journalists whose reporting crosses over to audiences on the other side, or journalists who work together with journalists from other countries. Such border- transcending journalism does not and in all likelihood will not replace national- context journalism but, as this book will illustrate, does supplement it in important ways. Standing before the stone markers in Schengen, one cannot help but con- template the monumental transformations Europeans have experienced in the past half- century. Following the horrific destruction caused by World War II, France and Germany took steps to forge new bonds. In 1950, French foreign minister Robert Schuman proposed a Franco- German partnership for coal and steel production that became the European Coal and Steel Community the following year.4 That movement eventually spawned the European Union, which has, in stages, synchronized economies, introduced common policy and legisla- tion from health care to the environment, and rolled out a single currency for many of its member states. Citizens’ support for EU membership is in decline, according to a recent EU– commissioned public opinion survey. This same survey indicated that many people did not understand key aspects of EU governance, such as the rotating presidency system.5 In short, Europe has a communication problem, Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Copyrighted material – 9781137272645 Introduction ● 3 and the disconnect between citizens’ political engagement and the EU’s devel- opment process threatens the legitimacy of the EU. A number of observers point out, as Claes de Vreese does, that “media, and especially news media, play an essential role in informing European citizens about the integration process.”6 However, as a number of studies have also indicated, European media organiza- tions largely limit their focus within nation- state silos, with little activity across the increasingly permeable barriers between those silos. Globalization and Europeanization may suggest a gradual dissolution of the traditional barriers to information flow that were erected by nation- state borders. One might imagine a world in which people have unfettered access to journalistic content from a standardized source, in an easily accessible presen- tation style, devoid of nationalist biases. Yet it is not realistic, nor necessarily desirable, to wish for the elimination of the distinctive features of the different journalisms— shaped by national cultures and systems— that one encoun- ters around the globe. Even in such a geographically compact terrain as the upper Moselle Valley, the variety of distinct journalistic forms corresponding to different cultures is a vivid indicator of the fact that people from different places communicate about themselves and others in particular ways. The increasing media- driven permeability of national frontiers does not for an instant imply the impending demise of the nation- state or the disappearance of discrete national cultures and perspectives. Border- transcending journalism coexists with “national” journalism, but— and this is one of the central prem- ises of this book— the relationship is an uneasy coexistence and is fraught with contradictions. News doesn’t stop at the border. This became apparent to me as I climbed back into my car on the banks of the Moselle. As I pressed the scan button on the car radio, snippets of regional newscasts in French, German and Luxembourgish resonated from the speakers. These regional radio newscasts represent an ele- ment largely missing from the conversations (both scholarly and popular) about media and globalization. Those conversations

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