Media | Newsroom Europe

Let’s bring the EU into the media

Nov 28, 2020 | Media, Newsroom

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An Article Series about European Reporting

Topics concerning the EU are less often covered in national or local media. What can European journalism look like? Politikorange editor Paula Blaschke presents two different concepts.

The formation of young journalists is an important part of Euradio. Source: Le temps s’arrête – Pauline Lévêque Photographie

Euradio: the balancing act between European and local reporting

„Something needs to change.“ That was the thought of the French journalist and convinced European Laurence Aubron when the French population voted in a referendum against the treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in 2005. Consequently, she founded the association Euradio in the French city of Nantes, and one year later, a European radio program started. The ambition: to inform French citizens about what the European Union does for them, where it concerns their everyday life, and how it intervenes at a local level.

The European Union is an enormous aggregate. But it’s not only a huge administration in Brussels or Strasbourg – it has a big influence on the everyday life of all its citizens. Our nutrition for example: products in our supermarkets have to follow regulations decided on by the European Union.

It’s sometimes complicated to understand what actually happens in the European parliament or the European commission. Journalists can help, but when they talk about the European Union, it’s more often in a negative way. An inevitable consequence, EU citizens become disinterested, or develop a generally negative view on the EU.

Euradio – looking for local-european journalism

Euradio wants to find an answer to the problem. The radio station would like to give the citizens the possibility to have more information about what the European Union actually does, especially in their city and on the local level. They call this concept „local-European journalism,“ or „European journalism of proximity“. „We do not only have a local or national view on a topic but also a European one. We show where the European Union is represented on a local level, for example in cultural events“ explains Hélène Lévêque, who is responsible for Euradio communication.

On the other hand, they also try to explain what impact a European decision actually has on the local level. To accomplish this, the editorial staff is composed of journalist from all over Europe. Hélène Lévêque explains: „In the beginning, we had the idea of working with one, two, or three professional journalists who come predominantly from France.“ In addition to that, they also started an internship programme.

Euradio Academy: getting another perspective

A team of young Europeans would come to Nantes for an internship or voluntary service for five or six months. The idea was that young participants could treat the local, European news with another perspective: their unique, cultural backgrounds and different languages. Today, more than 250 young Europeans from around 30 countries have participated in the Euradio Academy (in French, „Académie Euradio“). The participants develop skills in journalism, always with a view toward to the EU. Not to mention, with regard to their future career, as Lévêque adds: „We hope that the young journalists will keep in their future career this European regard, and also the delight of talking about Europe.“

The future of European reporting?

Today, Euradio owns 18 frequencies. Lots of people in different French cities, and also in Brussels can hear the broadcast. But not all of the frequencies are activated yet. „Our goal is that we can activate them in the next two or three years and have local editorial offices in all these cities“ says Hélène Lévêque. Until now there are (besides Nantes) offices in Lille, Lyon, and Strasbourg. „We would like to copy the system that we constructed in Nantes, becoming an intersection for bringing Europe into the heart of these cities“ continues Lévêque. Perhaps in a few years we could find these stations all over Europe – if the mission of Euradio continues to be successful.

Paula Blaschke… ist für ihre Berichterstattung gerne an vielen spannenden Orten unterwegs.

Disclaimer

The supporting organizations for the production of these articles do not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the supporting organizations cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The Sneaking Danger of Populism

Nov 28, 2020 | Media, Newsroom

Populist calls from left, right, centrist, and also green movements in Europe have been getting louder throughout the past few years. The label ‘populist’ is thrown around in discussions, the media, and parliamentary debates. But what is populism, and what dangers does it hold to the European Union? Politikorange editors Lukas Hinz and Leander Löwe tried to find out more about the occurrence of Populism.

Dark clouds hanging above the EU Parliament / Source: pexels.com

Populism – The ‘Thin Ideology’

Populism appears in three different shapes. According to Hanspeter Kriesi, a well-respected political scientist from the European University Institute in Florence, it should be categorized as a discourse and communication style, as a political strategy and as an ideology. He is referring to one of the first definitions of populism developed by the Dutch political scientist and expert in populism and extremism Cas Mudde. According to him, the thought of dividing society is essential to populist ideology.

In his paper “The Populist Zeitgeist” from 2004, he describes how this thin ideology of populism

considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups, ‘the pure people’ versus ‘the corrupt elite’, and which argues that politics should be an expression of the volonté générale (general will) of the people.”

Populists try to present the people as the sovereign in the state, and claim that “the elite has betrayed the sovereign”, Kriesi explains. He adds that populism can only exist in combination with ‘thicker,’ fake-ideologies that have strong content. This is why populism often appears (depending on the national context) in extreme right, centrist, and left parties and supports various ideas, which could not be more diverse.

Spoiler alert: Crises support Populism!

Populism is often successful during times of crisis. In his paper from 2013 Kriesi adds that this is most evident during political crises, which “[enhance] anti-elitism in the country in question” and economic ones, because they serve as a catalyst for political crises.

According to his research, Kriesi cites that “the combination of two types of crisis is the most favorable condition for populist mobilization”, and that populists are especially encouraged by the ‘losers’ of globalization.

Francis Fukuyama, Professor for History and Political Science at Stanford University, delivered a different explanation for the rise of populism in 2019. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, he says that people’s need for a common identity is greater than could be ever fulfilled by an open-minded and liberal society with “massive immigration and outsourcing measures”. In his book called “Identity”, he analyses one of the biggest consequences of this need: Identity politics.

According to Fukuyama’s book, identity politics means the conscious representation of one’s own interests and the associated delimitation and exclusion of other ideas and of dissenters. In combination with populism, these can become very dangerous for both democracy and global politics. The main reason is that identity politics places the identity of groups above that of others, thus making compromises more difficult, which are essential for a basic democratic and multilateral order.

For Fukuyama, a growing need for identity could also be a main driver of the European Union’s struggle with populism. Because the European Union never created an extended European identity, citizens have a more intense connection to their national states. That strengthens euro-skepticism in the member states.

The trend has been confirmed by numerous studies: for example, “National and/or European identity?: Issues of self-definition and their effect on the future of integration“ conducted by the Hungarian Political Capital Policy Research and Consulting Institute and the German Friedrich-Ebert Foundation „.The study from 2013 states that “according to surveys, the primacy of national identity is unchallenged in all cases.” This could be one of the reasons why, according to SPIEGEL, left and right populism almost always go hand in hand with skepticism towards the European Union. But what do the actual programs of populists look like?

The Different Faces of Populism

Today, populist parties are attracting voters in almost all EU-member states. The political directions of these parties vary vastly. The different ways a populist party can go are illustrated by the Manifesto-Projectinitiated by the WZB Social Science Research Center Berlin.

A prominent example for a populist party which shifted its direction entirely is the Movimento Cinque Stelle in Italy (short: M5S, Engl. the Five Stars Party). Originally founded by the Italian comedian Beppe Grillo with a green-left agenda, it further and further moved to the right with increasing migration and the upcoming need for identity. The right-left-index of the Manifesto-Project is a piece of evidence for this.

Picture 1: The M5S directly shifted its programmatic direction from the right to the centrist wing of the party spectrum.

Source: Volkens, Andrea / Burst, Tobias / Krause, Werner / Lehmann, Pola / Matthieß Theres / Merz, Nicolas / Regel, Sven / Weßels, Bernhard / Zehnter, Lisa (2020): The Manifesto Data Collection. Manifesto Project (MRG/CMP/MARPOR). Version 2020a. Berlin: Wis-senschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB). https://doi.org/10.25522/manifesto.mpds.2020a

Similarly, the German AfD started out with the euro-skeptic liberal program and moved to the extreme right between its foundation in 2013 and 2020. Picture 2: The AfD moved from the center to the very right-wing of the party spectrum.

Picture 2: The AfD moved from the center to the very right-wing of the party spectrum.

Another prominent example of how ‘thin’ the ideology of populism itself is – and of how much the agenda of a party can shift – can be seen in Hungary. The Fidesz Party was initially founded as a liberal protest movement. Nowadays, party-leader and prime minister Victor Orbán is setting the stage to turn Hungary into a right-extremist autocracy. Even in Portugal, which had no populist party for years, the right-extreme populist party “Basta!” (“Enough!”) is on the rise, as POLITICO showed in 2019. Its motto: Being “Anti-party, anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic”.

Picture 3: The Fidesz changed the left-liberal agenda to an extremely right-conservative one in the last 15 years.

EU-Presidency 2020: Example of how to Deal with Populists

The European Union developed its own strategy to handle populist ideologies in its middle over the years. This is especially evident in 2020: As observed by the Associated Press, populists in Europe were weakened during the corona crisis. Angela Merkel’s speech in the European Parliament, where she took a stand against the division of the European society by the populists, underlines this. In her speech, she highlighted that “Germany is prepared to show extraordinary solidarity”, and that the pandemic is revealing the limits of populism in Europe.

In her speech to mark the start of the EU Presidency on July 1, she urged the member states of the EU to confirm the recovery package for the European economy, amounting to more than 750 billion Euros. Therefore populists would be deprived of any benefits from the corona crisis: “We are seeing at the moment that the pandemic can’t be fought with lies and disinformation, and neither can it be with hatred and agitation. Fact-denying populism is being shown its limits.” While Hanspeter Kriesi says that especially crises help populist parties to rise, the corona crisis seems to have had the contrary effect. According to Merkel, solidarity among member states is the most effective way to take a stand against the voice of populist parties in the European countries.

Lukas Hinz https://lukashinz.de…hat Bock auf Medien, Fotografie, Journalismus und viel viel mehr. Wenn er gerade nicht online ist, dann sucht er nach coolen Dingen, die ihm vor die Linse springen oder sitzt – ohne Internet – in der Bahn.

Author: Lukas Hinz