CERC Jean Monnet Lecture: 'The EU through the Eyes of Asia: A Comparative Study of Media Perceptions'

Tuesday 24 August, 4:00-5:00pm
at Room 212, Level 2, 234 Queensberry Street, The University of Melbourne

presented by

Prof Martin Holland

(Director, National Centre for Research on Europe, University of Canterbury, Jean Monnet Chair ad personam)

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Abstract

According to Vice-President of the EU Commission Margot Wallström, an obstacle to creating a better connection between the EU and Europe’s citizens is a lack of any “common narrative” about the actual nature of European integration:

“the real problem in Europe is that there is no agreement or understanding about what Europe is for and where it is going”.

This absence of an EU roadmap or consensus on whether a federal “United States of Europe” is the end goal has created a confused and perplexing image for those outside the borders of the EU25. But how the EU is understood and seen from the outside is important as reflections from third countries may help to more clearly identify and define Europe for itself. As a 2005 report from the London-based Foreign Policy Centre “European Infopolitik: Developing EU Public Diplomacy Strategy”, argued, for the Union to prosper it must project a positive image of itself to opinion formers and to the ‘man in the street’ both within and beyond its borders. Yet, research on the external perceptions (both public and elite) of the EU is rare, as are analyses of how the international media represent and present the EU image abroad.

This lecture addresses this issue by presenting the findings from a series of third country studies undertaken from 2004-6 focused on the media and public opinion. Leading newspapers and TV channels in each selected country – Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and China – were analysed on a daily basis to ascertain the relative levels of EU news coverage, the topics chosen and the news sources used. This information was the analysed in terms of the images, metaphors and neutrality of the news stories used to represent the EU to citizens across the Asian region. Opinion surveys were then conducted to determine the attitudes and perceptions held both by the general public and by each country’s elite.

This research has provided a unique insight into how the EU is perceived in Asia. The most striking conclusions relate to a low level of Asia’s expectations about the EU combined with a limited awareness and interest in the EU amongst Asians - despite the EU’s growing weight and influence as a regional and international actor. Yet any public misperception or ill informed media representation concerning the EU’s global role is potentially detrimental, particularly if it results in an overly-simplified Asian view of the EU’s capabilities (more than “just” an economic player, for example). An impaired Asian awareness of the EU puts it at risk of being overlooked or undervalued by Asian countries for who the EU is a significant political, economic and social partner. Similarly, low awareness of the EU also exposes such countries at risk of slipping off the EU’s ‘radar’.

The lecture will deal with the media’s coverage of the EU as well as examine both public and elite opinion towards the EU across five Asian countries. The questions that are raised include: is there a communication gap between the EU and Asia? If so, what is the nature of this gap and how might this be addressed If left unaddressed, what are the potential implications for the EU and for the EU-Asian dialogue? What policy recommendations for both the media and for the EU can be suggested? And, what might be the wider implications of a concerted EU public diplomacy strategy to raise EU “visibility” abroad?

Biography

Professor Martin Holland holds a Jean Monnet Chair ad personam and is the Director of the National Centre for Research on Europe at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He has taught EU courses in South Africa, Australia, Thailand, Switzerland and Germany as well as in New Zealand: in 2006, he introduced the first B.A. major in European Union Studies offered by a tertiary institution in New Zealand and Australia.

Professor Holland has held several fellowships including Jean Monnet Research Fellowship at the European University Institute, an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at the University of Freiburg and was most recently a Rockefeller Bellagio Fellow in 2000. He has published 19 books and over 100 chapters and articles. Publications on the EU’s external relations include ¬The Future of European Political Cooperation: essays on theory and practice¬ (Ed) (Macmillan, London, 1991); ¬European Union Common Foreign Policy: CFSP joint action in South Africa¬ (Macmillan, London, 1995); Common Foreign and Security Policy: the record and reforms (Ed)(Pinter/Cassells, London, 1997); The EU and the Third World (Palgrave/ Macmillan EU Studies Series, London, 2002); and, Common Foreign and Security Policy: the first decade (Ed) (Continuum, London, 2004).