Framing of German minority in political conflict. Framing and media agenda analysis of Polish regional newspapers

Błażej Choroś

University of Opole, Institute of Political Science
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9215-8320

Ewa Skrabacz

University of Opole, Institute of Political Science
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1004-1802

Abstract

One of the indicators of the condition of the democratic state is its attitude towards national minorities. Not only the institutional dimension of these relations is important, but also the functioning of the public sphere. Public sphere provides space to negotiate and deliberate over issues that are important to the community. Media, which are an essential part of public sphere act as a facilitator and influence social attitudes towards discussed issues. Following paper presents results of an original research on framing German minority in regional press in Poland. Context of the research is the political conflict over the the enlargement of Opole City. The majority of Germans - the most numerous national minority in Poland - live in the Opole region. The enlargement of the city of Opole changes administrative structure in the region by incorporating to the city parts of the neighboring communities often governed by German minority. The incorporation process induced strong protests of the residents of these communities and fears of the German minority itself that these changes would adversely affect its position. The study covers press articles that appeared in regional dailies published in the Opole region. Quantitative and qualitative analysis tools were used, includuing framing analysis.

Keywords:

German minority, national minorities, agenda-setting, media, conflict, Poland, Opole