The region of Central Europe, and particularly the countries that form the Visegrad group, has seen a rise in anti-EU sentiment and EuroskepticismEuroscepticism[B1] . The Czech Republic is considered one of the most suitable examples of this phenomenon across Europe. However, this state is not status quo. During the times of various global crises, the level of Euroscepticism fluctuates. Due to this reason, the thesis analyzes two crises, which are This thesis focuses on a particular case of the Czech Republic, where two distinct crises—the immigration inflow in 2015 and the Russian invasion in 2022, and their divergent public reactions. The Czech society was more anti-EU oriented during the migration crisis, whereas later when Russia invaded Ukraine, they felt closer to the European Union. I approach this phenomenon from the media perspective and its public media discourse by researching existing literature, analyzing media content, and collecting questionnaires filled out by experts. The media are two online most-read news platforms Novinky and iDnes, which also both existed before the first crisis. The interrogated professionals are working for the European Union in the Czech environment, so they are very well-orientated in the Czech media talking about the European Union. Results from all three sources —led to divergent public reactions, with the former feeling more Euroskeptic and the latter feeling closer to the European Union. This peculiarity was examined through the eyes of two online news media and the EU officials employed in the Czech setting. The findings indicate that the public media discourse is diversely Europeanized throughout different crises, or in other words, influenced by the European environment and membership in the EU. Thiswhich results in the European institutions being blamed or praisedexalted for coming up with solutions. The European Union officials in questionnaires respondents complement this statement by claiming that these stories are having an impact on Czech society. This observation implies that the reaction to external crises is based on various factors such as the government's position, common enemy, fear of the unknown, or more readable negative news. For these reasons, the Czech future attitude towards the European Union is unpredictable. At the same time, the thesis highlights several observations important for regional development, which are similar discourses in cities of different sizes, more optimistic attitudes with a higher number of news, and the danger of simplifying opinion groups into anti-European and pro-European only. There is a significant impact that this observed connection will have on the future development of the region.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-129832 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Nagyová, Alena |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för statsvetenskap (ST) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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