BB: MEDIA FRAMING AND PUBLIC OPINION ON EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

The  doctoral project explores the divergent public perceptions of European integration in Montenegro and Serbia, focusing on the reasons behind Montenegro’s largely favorable view of the process, in contrast to Serbia’s increasingly polarized stance. While existing political science literature identifies a range of political, economic, and identity-related factors that influence public opinion, Zorana contends that it is the media’s interpretation and communication of these factors that accounts for the variation in public perceptions. Through a comparative analysis of media framing dynamics in both states, her research investigates how media portrayals—not the underlying factors themselves—shape how people see integration. By examining distinct rhetorical strategies used in media framing, the study demonstrates how these approaches either encourage a more nuanced understanding of European integration or foster a dichotomous perspective, thus limiting deliberative engagement and reducing the potential for societal consensus on the issue.

Zorana Radovanović is a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Political Science, University of Tübingen, with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Her research focuses on differences in media framing and public perceptions of European integration in Serbia and Montenegro. By integrating media studies and rhetoric, Zorana adopts an interdisciplinary framework to analyze public perception within the realm of political science. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations with a specialization in European Integration from the University of Konstanz, as well as a Master’s in Communication Studies from the University of Belgrade.