EU s media strategies Katri Vallaste 22 October 2013

EU’s media strategies Katri Vallaste 22 October 2013

Democratic deficit, information deficit, communication deficit • Democratic deficit: the absence of legitimizing popular representation at the supra-national level of governance (with the exception of the popularly elected European Parliament) • Information deficit: lack of knowledge about EU policies in the national public spheres • Communication deficit: insufficient and ineffective provision of information, as well as a lack of transparent policy-making processes by the EU institutions

History • 1989 Television Without Frontiers Directive • The creation of the European Commission post for Institutional Relations and Communications in August 2004 – Little influence on public opinion • Audiovisual Services Directive – Entered into force on 19 December 2007 – Target: to create a single European market for audiovisual services – Target: to take cultural aspects into account

EU’s history of secrecy • Until December 2005, Council meetings were held behind closed doors – Then moved towards greater transparency by allowing the public to follow such matters that are subject to co-decision procedure • The Commission, whose meetings are held in private, started in 2001 to grant access to its records as well as to the ones of the Council and the Parliament

More info more EU support? • Is it so that the more you know about something, the more you like it? • Or could the causal link be the opposite: the more you like something, the more you want to know about it?

Group discussion • Do we (who? ) need less or more of a European Public Sphere? Why?

Low voter turnout at EP elections: result of a communication deficit? • The parliamentary press office reports serious communicative inadequacies • And so do individual parliamentarians low profile of the EP in the organisation of the EU (Anderson & Mc. Leod, 2004)

(Commission’s) Directorate-General Communication • Directorates-General are the different departments of the Commission • Purposes: – to inform the media and citizens of the activities of the European Commission – to communicate the objectives and goals of its policies and actions – to inform the Commission of public opinion in member states • European Year of Citizens 2013 – http: //europa. eu/citizens-2013/

Commission • Logo – EU flag – Headquarters of the Commission ‘information’ campaigns more focused on promoting a prointegration consensus than providing factual information

Spokespersons’ Service • Explains the European Commission's positions to the media • Provides official information • Balčytienė et al conducted an interview study of the spokespersons in 2006 – Not necessarily journalists by education or experience – See their relevant Commissioner as their ’real boss’ – Some spokespersons claimed that they are not allowed to attend meetings of the Cabinet – Communication Planning and Priorities Unit • Some spokespersons inform the Planning Unit of their line, others are instructed by the Planning Unit what line to take – Main audience: journalists residing in Brussels (over 95%)

Easy for us to criticise… • Exercise: EU Daily/EU Weekly • You are the Editor in Chief of a daily newspaper/weekly magazine with EU-wide distribution • What topics does your paper/magazine cover? ly EU Dai

Use of social media • Communication on political priorities – Social Media Network (of the Commission) • Close cooperation with the Spokespersons’ Service • Stakeholder and campaign communication (via Facebook) – – Informing citizens Sharing experiences Promoting policies and campaigns Engaging with stakeholders • Use of social media in staff members’ personal capacity – Commission employees must follow the guidelines for all staff on the use of social media

Protecting minors • Ban on tobacco advertising • Portrayal of alcohol • ’Fatty foods’ in commericals linked to childrens programs • Hourly limit of 12 minutes for advertising and teleshopping spots

Safeguarding media pluralism • What is your impression of the EU member state that is the most familiar to you, what is the situation regarding media pluralism?

White Paper on European Communication Policy • Commission 2006 – – • A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem Targets: – – – • http: //europa. eu/documents/comm/white_papers/pdf/com 2006_35_en. pdf ‘Defining common principles’ (with a proposed ‘European Charter or Code of Conduct on how to communicate to citizens’); ‘Empowering citizens’ (i. e. emphasizing national civic education and dialogue with citizens); ‘Working with the media and new technologies’ (i. e. providing blogs and access to EU news on the Internet); . ‘Understanding European public opinion’ (i. e. creating an expert network and expanding research); ‘Doing the job together’ (i. e. involving all key actors in the states, EU institutions, civil society etc. ). Two citations: – Communication […] should be based on genuine dialogue between the people and the policymakers and lively political discussion among citizens themselves. • – Communication has focused largely on telling people what the EU does: less attention has been paid to listening to people’s views. Close the gap between the information society ‘haves and have nots’ – addressing such issues as equal opportunities, ICT skills and the inequalities between Europe’s regions in terms of Internet access. • For example, in Greece, only about 50% of the population use the Internet

Criticisms of principles in the White Paper on Communication • Viewed by many journalists as an attempt to suppress critical reporting about the Union. • The suggestion to increase professional outreach activities with regards to information dissemination about the EU could resemble the installation of ‘embedded journalists’ instead of the independent coverage currently performed by the media outlets. • The utilization of interactive technologies such as the Internet is limited to a technology-savvy, mostly younger segment of the population. • It is far from clear how exactly all participating actors of the EU polity should be collaborating as what has been described as ‘doing the job together’. (Thiel 2008)

Plan D • Launched by the Commission in 2005 • ‘Plan D’ calls for more ‘democracy, dialogue and debate’ • Increasing EU official visits to the member states • Establishing civic roundtables • Recommending the increased utilization of the Internet – (http: //www. youtube. com/user/eutube)

Focus on elites and Internet • Difficulty of reaching ’non-elite’ citizens via Internet • According to the Commission, the EU-wide online discussion forum ‘Debate Europe’ received 5, 345 contributions from a total of 380 million EU citizens (European Commission, 2005) – http: //ec. europa. eu/archives/debateeurope/inde x_en. htm

Let’s work on giving a ’face’ to the EU Margot Wallström Viviane Reding

To sum it up… • ‘[T]here are plenty of communications, but not much communication’ (Sain Ley Berry, 2007).