News media in the European Union

Mass media are the means through which information is transmitted to a large audience. This includes newspapers, television, radio, and more recently the internet. Those which provide news and information are known as the news media.

The member states of the European Union generally have a wide range of media providers, both public and commercially funded.

The state broadcasters are funded through a mix of advertising and public money, either through a licence fee or directly from the government. In addition there are many other free press alternatives.

International media

There are a number of news organisations operating across national boundaries. Major international European news channels include BBC World, France 24, DW-World and Euronews. The traditional major newspaper that is distributed across Europe, the International Herald Tribune, published in Paris, is in fact owned by the US-based New York Times.

Coverage of EU politics

The media is however weak when it comes to news dedicated to the political process at the European Union level and without national bias, which manyWho|date=December 2007 say is needed due to European political integration. [ [http://euobserver.com/9/24473 Comment: Citizens of partnership, not subjects of an empire] , EUobserver, accessed 13.07.2007]

There are few examples of news providers dedicated to covering the political processes in Brussels from a Pan-European perspective without national bias in traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television; language barriers and national affiliations are obvious reasons for this. The EuroNews TV channel is one of the few, with a varying degree of success. There is also the newspaper European Voice.

On the Internet however, there are many news providers dedicated to coverage of the EU system. Examples are EUobserver and [http://www.euractiv.com Euractiv] , and there are many others. There are also many EU-dedicated blogs such as [http://fistfulofeuros.net/ afoe] . [http://www.eux.tv/ EUX.TV] is one of the few providers of EU video news online.

EU coverage by national media

European election coverage

European elections tend to attract little attention from the media. The European Parliament has been preparing with broadcasters to make the 2009 election more interesting and attract audiences. [ [http://euobserver.com/9/23566 EU wants to dress up 2009 elections on TV] , EUobserver.com Accessed 26 February 2007]

Concentration of media ownership

Various media in the Union are increasingly coming under concentrated ownership. For example, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and Silvio Berlusconi's ownership of Italian media while Prime Minister of Italy.

ee also

* Public broadcasting
* European Commissioner for Information Society & Media
* European Commissioner for Institutional Relations & Communication Strategy
* European Radio Project
* Europa (web portal)

References