Visual framing of European Years in Romanian public communication campaign blogs

Since 1983, European Years (EY) have been implemented by the European Parliament and the European Council to raise the awareness of the local, regional, and national authorities on a common European issue. This article develops a visual framing analysis of the photographic representation of the European Year of Volunteering (2011) and the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations (2012) at a national level. The data will focus on the photographic images uploaded on the campaign blogs of two Romanian non-governmental organizations. This study has a threefold aim: first, to compare and contrast the use of photographic images in the blogs of two Romanian public communication campaigns; second, to develop a model of visual framing analysis focused on types of represented participants, social actions, and shots; third, to argue that the objectives and outcomes of the public communication campaigns on EY issues depend on the type of “I-ness” versus “we-ness” society a country is.