EXPLORING THE EUROPEAN ELITE SPHERE

Abstract

This article goes beyond the traditional elite–mass paradigm for studying how economic and political power is distributed in society, to explore how elite–elite communication takes place within the European Union, through an analysis of elite European news media. It focuses on one newspaper in this sector, the Financial Times (FT), asking why it is regarded by reporters, spokespersons and officials as occupying a crucial and privileged position in the Brussels press corps, at a time when European news is viewed as having great difficulty getting approval from editorial gatekeepers in national newsrooms. The material presented here is based on qualitative interviews with current and former Financial Times Brussels correspondents, EU officials, as well as other reporters from various member states that report on the European Union from Brussels and their domestic newsrooms. We examine the FT's complex relations with its elite sources within EU institutions and argue that the FT is an important part of a developing European elite sphere, which functions quite separately from any developing public sphere.

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