Interculturality and sport: mediatization of culture contact in reporting Euro 2012 by the British and Irish national press

Abstract

Sport is considered the epitome of interculturality in action due to its ability to bring people together in unison and generate discord at the same time. This peculiar nature of sport is also reflected in the media coverage of sport events. The present study analyses the British and Irish press coverage of the 2012 UEFA European Championship (Euro 2012) finals held in Poland and Ukraine as an example of a mediated practice of intercultural engagement. The tenor of the reporting was found to be remarkably different in the newspapers produced in two neighbouring countries and often owned by the same media corporations. The British press failed to identify areas of cultural affinity of the hosts and guests of the tournament by playing up to the readers’ xenophobic stereotypes of cultural and civilization backwardness of Eastern Europe. The depiction of the Polish-Irish intercultural encounter by the Irish press, while largely positive, was also based on stereotypes and clichéd generalizations about the two nations. The study demonstrated that the British and Irish newspaper content on Euro 2012 was governed predominantly by the media own logic and interest, with little care for the quality of intercultural dialogue.