Ajakirjaniku töö Brüsselis Euroopa avalikkuse kontekstis
Date
2007
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Description
This paper „EU Reporting from Brussels and European Public Sphere“ is trying to
engage in the debate about European sphere. Analyzing the work of Brussels
correspondents from various European countries, the paper is looking for elements in
their work affecting the European public sphere.
The rejection of EU constitution by French and Dutch voters has once again pointed
out the EU communication and legitimacy deficit. As described by Jürgen Gerhards
already in 1993, the generation of European public sphere is lagging behind the
economic and political integration. This process threatens to undermine the
achievements of EU integreation so far. Various theoretical models suggest the
European public sphere as necessary element in overcoming these deficits, however
there is no single widely-accepted model of European public sphere and none has
solid empirical proof. We can only find some cases of segmented europeanization.
This paper is part of the AIM (Adequate Information Management) project and is
based on 142 semi-structured interviews made with Brussels correspondents of 11
European countries. The interviews suggest that national point of view is still the
prevailing discourse for journalists covering EU affairs. The vertical transnationalism
discourse that would suit best for curing communication deficit is rather absent from
journalists’ preferred discourses.
The paper concludes that although it is easier in Brussels to access information with
transnational content, the deficiencies of EU information and the traditions of the
news desk in home office make it hard to report from an European angle. Broadening
the choice of sources allowed to speak on-the-record would help journalists to gather
information more easily and add more personification to the story, thus making is
more acceptable with the home office and the audience.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd, ajakirjandus, ajakirjanikud, elukutsed, tööprotsessid, avalikkus, Brüssel, Euroopa