EU accession, crimes and sports: the thematic frame of reciprocal perceptions between Western Balkan countries and EU

Abstract

The paper outlines the reciprocal perceptions between the Western Balkan countries and the EU against the background of a future EU accession of the region. Based on the rationale that mass media is a crucial platform through which reciprocal perceptions are identified and reciprocal images are formed. A comparative newspaper analysis in 2009 focused on the reciprocal news coverage in two EU countries (Austria and Slovenia) and two Western Balkan countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia) , which also identified the geographical and thematic frame of the reciprocal news coverage of both sides. The paper reveals that the attention paid towards the EU region in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia is significantly higher than that paid towards the Western Balkan region in the EU countries. It also illustrates that EU-related topics are not the only thematic frame shaping the news coverage on both sides when the respective, ‘Other,’ is taken into account.