Sport and national identity in the European media

Media coverage of international sports events provides evidence of the way European cultures frame their view of other nationalities. This book analyses the ways in which the mass media in twelve European countries turn sport into politics. For example, a footballing style is presented as evidence of the national character of the German nation; Wimbledon becomes proof of the historic continuities of British life; the Barcelona Olympics are used as another way of handling the relationship between Spain and Catalonia. In particular, this book concentrates on the way the media contribute to the ongoing reconstitution of national identity. While the greater part of the book focuses in detail on the press, there is also substantial comment on television practice in several chapters, and two of the chapters address themselves exclusively to television; the book also analyses symbols of the boundaries of ‘European identity’ itself. It provides an especially sustained account of the ideological operation of sports journalism, providing many close textual analyses of press and television examples in a comparative international frame. The book is also concerned throughout with the political economy of the media world.