Abstract
Minority media in Europe’s borderlands tell an ambivalent story about borders: they are both barriers and bridges. Through the lens of six minority newspapers, this research shows how national minorities narrate moments of crisis, including the so-called “migration crisis” and the COVID-19 pandemic, and what these tell us about Europe. While the European Union appears as a background actor, local realities dominate minority news media. The result is a Europe that is lived every day but rarely narrated: a Europe in the shadows.