Nationales Indexing Versus Europaische Offentlichkeit?

Researching the case of the transnational European conflict around the so-called "Greece and Euro crisis," the study analyzes the role of media and journalists in the making of a European public sphere and its domestic adaptations with national colors. The author develops and empirically tests a model of "national indexing" of the media which contributes to a better understanding of the construction mechanisms underlying this emergent transnational public space. Based on qualitative and quantitative content analyses of political documents and the news coverage and commentaries of German and Spanish newspapers it is not only examined whether, to what extend and in what forms the media coverage on the crisis phenomena is shaped by national orientations. Furthermore, the question is answered in what way and under which conditions national orientations in the media can be explained by mechanisms of national indexing.