Abstract

Mass media can represent and help to recompose European spaces. The aim of the current article is to ascertain whether the journalistic representation of space within a European cross-border region is related to the economy driven functional integration favored by the EU’s new regionalism policies. Based on a content analysis of two interconnected newspapers located in the trans-frontier area centered around the Luxembourg economy, the objective is to explore the spatial arrangements orienting the mediatization of cross-border regionalization. The results show that new regionalism—meaning the definition of a de-bordered and urban regional unit based on economic competitive advantages—is not necessarily the most important geographical set of ideas leading to the production of images in a trans-frontier and European region. Each of the chosen newspapers has developed a cross-border agenda assigning specific values to state borders and places within this regional and functional setting.