Examining the success of the European capital of culture in sustaining the cultural foundations of the European identity: An analysis of media representations and journalists' views on Liverpool 2008

Abstract

This article examines the European Capital of Culture programme in relation to its success in sustaining a sense of European cultural identity. This is done by examining the case study of Liverpool 2008. The study is conducted by combining a discourse analysis of a sample of articles of four British newspapers (two regional newspapers and two national newspapers) published in 2008 with interviews conducted with eight journalists in 2012. This research argues that the European Capital of Culture programme is a way in which a city can adopt a sustainable European cultural identity. There are a number of cultural factors that lead to this; some of the most prominent include visual discourse, the degree to which the community embraces the programme, the creation of desirable venues and the adoption of long-term cultural activities, festivals and schools. The analysis underlines that the city of Liverpool still adopts a cultural identity closely associated with the EU programme.