The European Media Landscape

The European Union

Established in 1993

27 member states

16 member states participate in the Euro

500 million citizens

30% of Gross World Product

The EU began as an alliance at the Schuman Treaty of 1950, a coal and steel trade agreement with Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands & West Germany.

In 1957, the same core countries signed the Treaty of Rome which continued to be revised until the official EU formation in 1993. We now have an “enlarged Europe” including Eastern countries.

Blue indicates the member states that use the Euro currency.

The UK retains their original currency. Non-member states Norway, Switzerland and Lichtenstein participate only in “single market” for leveling of prices. Iceland participates in single market but has now requested to join.

Belgian EU President Herman Von Ronpuy was elected to a 2 1/2 year term in 2009.

Within the EU are the following agencies

The European Parliament: works to pass legislation

The European Council: advises Parliament and controls the “Common Foreign and Security Policy”

The European Commission: initiates the legislation

The European Court of Justice: upholds the legislation

The “European Commission” enforces laws but it is up to each country to regulate media. France has the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel.

Hallin & Mancini's Comparing Media Systems looks at Europe in the 3 regions below:

The study examines

-markets in relation to economies

-political parties in relation to press

-professionalism of media

Political parallelism: how much the media advocate parties and support the ruling power

External pluralism: variety in media with different political views

Governance: political party control of media

Role of the state: variation in funding, regulation, intervention

Professionalization: media as accurate, reliable and serving as fair social judgment

Le Journal du Dimanche is a Sunday only French paper

Burton, Cathie & Drake, Alan (2004). The European Media Landscape in Hitting the Headlines in Europe.

The European news system began with Roman posting of flyers and the first newspaper theActa Diurna, meaning “daily acts.” The first newsprint was in Nuremberg Germany in 1457, followed by Britain’s paper The Weekly News in 1622. Contemporary Europe now has both nation and language specific news. There is 54% fluency in English, with Russian being the most spoken native and second language in Europe at 288 million speakers.

European News Media

The Financial Times

Since 1888, British pink paper the supplies facts and stories about the economic climate. It is known for remaining fairly neutral with some British Labour party support.

The International Herald Tribune

Based in Paris, it works in relationship to it’s owner the New York Times.

The Economist

A Scottish founded free market magazine published in 6 different country editions. It is known for being on the right, conservative side but is at times unpredictably radical. Importantly all the stories are anonymously.

Le Monde

The newspaper has a 2 million daily readership, larger than the New York Times. It is available in 120 countries in French.

European News Agencies

Reuters

Reuters started in Britain by carrier pigeons, then underground cables. It is now the most subscribed news source for European newspapers.

Agence France Press

16 Europeans offices with 2,000 writers. Circulates news in Europe in 7 languages

Associated Press

American based with about 250 world wide offices

Itar Tass

The former Soviet News agency now serving Russia and Eastern Europe

European News Channels

BBC World

While BBC in England is regulated public television, BBC World has advertising.

CNN

The European office is located in London. The French correspondant is AUP Professor Jim Bitterman.

Deutsche Welle

World news in German and English with some Spanish and Arabic languages for specific markets.

Euronews

Based in Lyon France, 7 language broadcast in voiceover only, currently the global leader

Arte
A combined French-German station that also reaches Austria, Belgium and Switzerland.

CNBC Europe

American NBC dependent news source targeting banks and hotels

Not mentioned in the text but essential to French media are France 24, providing English content, Euronews and the 24 hour news network, BFM.

Main European Media Centers

Brussels: Global politics happens here. Headquarters for the EU and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and near the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

London: Leader in global news and center for the Foreign Press Association.

Paris: Claims largest number of foreign correspondents

Strasbourg: The European Parliament, the legislative branch of the EU, meets here and there are many human rights agencies and other offices based here.

Geneva: Home to the United Nations, World Trade Organization and Red Cross

Jean Baudrillard's TV Fantasies addresses the role of the medium. Baudrillard was an important writer on French media. He became known for the term simulacra, a media copy of the original.

French media treats intellectuals differently.

Baudrillard was first famous, second a philosophe.

Baudrillard is interested in the aspect of television as a mass media tool of power. Television is accessible and free in order for governments to organize the masses when needed. The emergency broadcast is possible at any time for the government to retain control.

“The real catastrophe of television has been how deeply it has failed to live up to its promise of providing information…we dreamed first of giving power – political power- to the imagination but now we dream less and less of this.”

Baudrillard saw that television was used to passify the masses, rather than activate them, below the French game show Les Z Amours.

Writing in 1996, Baudrillard posed: "What if information did not relate to the event or facts but to the promotion of information itself as the event?...this is where McLuhan’s formulation can be seen as absolutely brilliant: the medium has swallowed the message and it is this the multi medium that is proliferating in all directions.”