Media Effects on Support for European Integration in Old and New EU Member States

The study measures the strength of media effects on attitudes to EU integration. Media exposure is the independent variable; support for European integration is the dependent variable; socio-economic conditions and cognitive-cultural variables are contextual variables. The analysis covers 27 EU member states at the time of 2009 EP election. Both micro-level variables and country-level effects were taken into consideration in hierarchical linear models. Data from the PIREDEU study was used. Analyses document weak influence of media exposure on attitudes. The overall positive effect is mostly concentrated in stable democracies with well-developed media systems.