Media: Look more to Europe! European reports instead of crime dramas!
Criticism: European media coverage focuses excessively on the USA, but hardly on Europe – the mandate to inform should be exercised more strongly for neighbouring regions.
Paneuropa Austria calls on public service media to shed more light on political events within and in the neighbourhood of the European Union.
Almost unnoticed by the media public, two elections took place last weekend that were trend-setting. In both the EU country Bulgaria and in Moldova, which recently entered into an association partnership with the EU, pro-Russian candidates won the presidential elections – a turning point in these states that affects Europe more directly than the Senate elections in the USA.
“The elections and referendums of recent months, in which Euro-critical candidates have won majorities across the board, have left many at a loss. Yet the situation could be better assessed if European processes were given even half as much attention as the elections in the USA,” says Philipp Jauernik, Federal Chairman of Paneuropa Youth Austria. We are well informed about the US election. “Particularly regarding the Balkans, where Austria is also politically and militarily engaged, good information is not so easily accessible to many citizens. Yet this is right on our doorstep,” Jauernik notes.
“There are virtually no analyses or background reports on our European neighbours and friends in the East and South-East of the Union,” adds Stefan Haböck, International Officer of Paneuropa Austria, stating: “If Bulgaria, Moldova, and other South-Eastern European states were as much in focus as Great Britain and the USA, then developments would be easier to understand!”
Paneuropa Austria therefore demands that public service media in particular fulfil their mandate and report more comprehensively on the work of European institutions, European partners, and neighbouring countries. “Due to the show effect, a US election campaign is naturally more exciting and entertaining, but for Europe, it is more important who, as heads of state or government in Brussels, directly helps determine the future of Europe,” Jauernik concludes.
Caption: l.t.r. Stefan HABÖCK, Karl von HABSBURG, Philipp JAUERNIK
Photo credit: © DI Andrea Schiffl/Paneuropa Austria
