Should I stay or should I go? Images of the EU in the British press during the Brexit debate

Sammanfattning: Citizens of the member states of the EU generally lack knowledge about the EU. This gives the media an important role in shaping public opinion. Media ascribing attributes to a subject of public discussion, is referred to as second level agenda setting. One recurring critique against the EU is its lack of democracy. In the scholarly debate, this phenomenon has been labelled the democratic deficit of the EU. In the debate leading up to Brexit in 2016, an intense discussion about lack of democracy, as well as other issues regarding the EU, took place in the British media. This essay uses qualitative data analysis in order to analyse the arguments presented in The Telegraph and The Guardian in the final weeks before the referendum. One of the attributes most frequently used to create the image of the EU during the Brexit debate, was regarding democracy. The results also indicate that those positive of the EU, still presented negative aspects of the institution.