Regional News from New Regionalisation in Europe. A Look at Cross-Border Regionalisation from a Free Daily Reader’s Perspective

Abstract:

The objective of this article is to explore the cross-border regionalisation by analysing the practices of the free dailies published in Luxembourg, a small and cosmopolitan EU state whose urban growth expands beyond its borders. The Luxembourgish free press, inspired by the famous 20 Minutes and Metro, exists because of the purchase potential of readers employed in the Grand Duchy which is sold to advertisers. However, these readers/consumers/commuters can experience different sides of the cross-border urban areas, centred on the Luxembourgish economy (place of work, residence, shopping, etc.). Data collected from among a sample of readers of free dailies enable us to see that the new regionalisation can be an economic-driven process implying the porousness of some state borders and the rigidity of others, depending on the functional and emotional spaces of the homo economicus. Media practices are based on a series of material and ideational practices of nomadic workers.