Continental drift: Historical perspectives on the framing of ‘Europe’ in the British Press

Abstract

This chapter argues that the framing of ‘Europe’ in the UK news media saw a gradual adoption of geographically ‘distancing’ language from the early 1950s (and exponentially onwards to the 2016 referendum), which fed into political debate and profoundly shaped public opinion. From the geographically correct, but dated sounding ‘continent’ to the near-universal use of ‘Europe’ to describe ‘anywhere but here’, this analysis of digitized databases suggests that the British press has shaped public attitudes in a considerably more fundamental way than the well-documented attempts by populist politicians. The role of newspapers in the formulation and distribution of ideas, in a broad sense, underpins this study. The use of the word ‘Europe’ transcends geographical reality to encompass alternative worldviews, descriptions of political positions and affinity. This chapter will unpick this linguistic evolution, examining the data derived from content analysis through the prism of place representation, ideology and emotional association.