EU Media Coverage in Times of Crisis: Euroscepticism Becoming Mainstream?

Scholars have argued that Euroscepticism has become mainstream across Europe. By means of a qualitative comparison of media coverage in 2009 and 2014, this chapter explores the extent to which this is the case in mediated public debates. Mainstreaming would entail a changing rhetoric in mediated debates, with actors putting forward soft and hard Eurosceptic arguments (including rejection of European integration) at the expense of supportive positions and pro-system opposition. The focus is on quality newspapers in Britain and the Netherlands. If the mainstreaming thesis is correct, Euroscepticism should certainly no longer be confined to Britain. Moreover, for the mainstreaming thesis to hold it is exactly in quality newspapers that we should also increasingly find critical and Eurosceptic discourses.