This book offers a wealth of original empirical data on how online media shape EU contestation.
Taking a public sphere perspective the authors highlight the myths and truths about the nature
of audience-driven online media content and show how public demands for legitimacy are at the
heart of the much-analyzed politicization of European integration. What EU citizens most
intensely debate online are the fundamental questions of what the European institutions stand
for and how they can be held accountable. Drawing on innovative and rigorous analysis of online
media ownership journalistic content and online readers' inputs the authors piece together
the components of the dynamic nature of EU contestation and the degree of convergence towards
Euroscepticism across EU member states in the first years of the Eurocrisis. There is no doubt
that EU citizens have strong opinions about the EU and interactive online media allow these
opinions to come to the fore to be challenged and amplified both within and beyond national
public spheres. Yet for all its potential to unite European publics online EU contestation
remains firmly anchored in offline news media frames while citizens and journalists alike
struggle to put forward a clear vision of the future EU polity.
