European newspapers were overwhelmingly critical of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

According to a comprehensive review of the press coverage in 13 countries following the EU referendum, most articles argued that Brexit was bad for the EU.

Furthermore, they believed it would damage their own nation’s interests and would also turn out to be bad for Britain.



One strong theme identified in the study, “Will it kill us or make us stronger? How Europe’s media covered Brexit”, was that the British vote highlighted problems within the EU.

However the majority view, across all political opinions, was that the EU should be reformed rather than be allowed to fail. And most agreed that the EU would be worse off without Britain (81 articles compared to 14).

One Hungarian newspaper argued the EU was only a “rump” without the UK. In only one country, Russia - surprise, surprise - were there more positive than negative articles about Brexit.

The European Journalism Observatory conducted a content analysis of the print editions of three daily newspapers in 12 European countries and also in the United States, between 25 June - two days after the referendum - and 1 July.

In all, 1,638 newspaper articles about Brexit were examined in both EU and non-EU countries (see list below). In a related study, 489 articles were analysed in three British newspapers.



Overall, it was found that 56% of articles in European and US newspapers were anti-Brexit. Only 8% of articles were pro-Brexit, while 36% were judged to be neutral.

Both the European and US newspapers, whatever their political leaning, reported “stunned surprise” and “dismay” after the referendum.

While leftwing newspapers were more strongly in favour of the EU and more critical of the outcome of Britain’s referendum arguing it could damage the EU; rightwing papers were also generally negative towards Brexit, although their analysis tended to be more understanding about the reasons behind Britain’s vote to leave.

In Germany and Italy, most of the articles contended that Brexit would have a negative impact upon Britain. However, Italy’s il Giornale (owned by Silvio Berlusconi’s family) contained some of the most enthusiastic pro-Brexit coverage, depicting it as a victory for the people over EU hierarchies.

In eastern European countries, including the EU’s newest members as well as those hoping to join, such as Albania, papers were predominantly negative about Brexit and positive about the EU.

What newspapers thought of the EU referendum vote. Illustration: Sara Bellicini for EJO

Many raised concerns over the fate of their citizens living and working, or hoping to go and work in the UK. The Polish tabloid Fakt was the only title to report aggression towards Polish nationals living in the UK in any detail.

Of all 13 countries studied, only Russia’s newspapers contained no articles stating Brexit would damage its national interest. Out of 52 articles, 13 outlined why Brexit would be good for Russia, 12 of which appeared in Regnum, a pro-Putin outlet.

As for the United States, the volume of mainstream news coverage devoted to Brexit was noted by the researchers. Of the 186 stories published in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and New York Post, 31 argued that Brexit was bad for Europe while only two opposed that view.

The dominant theme in the New York Times’s coverage was of negative consequences for the Britain.

In the UK, the study concluded that of the three newspapers studied (The Telegraph, Guardian and Daily Mail) two had backed the leave campaign, yet coverage after the vote was mostly anti-Brexit (39%), 27% pro-Brexit and 34% neutral.

The study’s author and coordinator was Caroline Lees, the former Sunday Times staffer who is now the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism research officer for European Journalism Observatory.

List of newspapers analysed in the study

Albania: Mapo, Shqiptarja.com (print edition), Panorama; Czech: Mladá Fronta Dnes, Právo, Blesk; Germany: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung and BILD; Hungary: Magyar Idők, Népszabadság and Blikk;

Italy: Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica and Il Giornale; Latvia: Latvijas Avīze, Diena, Vesti Segodņa; Poland: Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, and Fakt; Portugal: Correio da Manhã, Jornal de Notícias and Público

Romania: Adevărul, Evenimentul Zilei, Libertatea; Russia: Regnum,Novaya Gazeta and Moskovskiy Komsomolets; Switzerland: Tagesanzeiger, NZZ, Blick; Ukraine: “День” – Den, “Сегодня” – Segodnya, “Факты” – Fakty.

United States: Wall Street Journal, New York Times and New York Post; UK: Guardian, Daily and Sunday Telegraph and Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday.