Brussels, 09/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - At its plenary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday 7 September, the European Parliament adopted a resolution from Morten Løkkegaard (ALDE, Denmark) highlighting the persistent communication problems between the European Union institutions and citizens. MEPs say that “lack of online news is not the problem, which in fact lies in the availability of a wide range of information without any real order of priority, leading to a situation in which too much information kills information”. They called on governments, parties, educational institutions and public service broadcasters to better explain European affairs to citizens. Member states are called on to ensure the independence and pluralism of public broadcasters and the media. The resolution states that every member state should have a specialised EU affairs office, with a person responsible for explaining the local, regional and national implications of EU policies and acting as a point of reference to whom people can direct their attention on EU matters. Political parties, too, have an important role to play in shaping public opinion on European issues and should give European issues a more prominent position in their programmes.
MEPs warn against information broadcast through the social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) despite their immense potential for reaching young people. MEPs point out that “their reliability as sources cannot always be sufficiently guaranteed”, that they “cannot be considered to be professional media” and may even “give rise to serious breaches of journalistic ethics”. They emphasise “the importance of drawing up a code of ethics applicable to new media”. The Parliament calls on member states and the regions to incorporate the EU
more fully into all educational curricula and to provide courses in journalism and the new media
in schools. (I.L./transl.rt)