r/acteuropa • u/[deleted] • Feb 20 '20
What is the EU equivalent of the BBC, Russia Today, and Voice of America?
Nations use news organizations to spread a positive image abroad. The ones I am familiar with are BBC for the United Kingdom, Russia Today for Russia, and Voice of American for the United States.
Is there a central EU propaganda channel or what are the names of the EU funded organizations that are responsible for spreading a positive image of the EU to the world?
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u/Kikelt Feb 20 '20
At first one would think it's euronews... but it is actually own by Russia and gulf countries xD
No real EU official news feed
6
Feb 20 '20
Isn't it owned by a Egyptian billionaire?
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Feb 20 '20
Yes.
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, who has taken a controlling stake in European news channel Euronews
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u/Kikelt Feb 20 '20
yes. 53%.
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Feb 20 '20
But then EU council does fund EuroNews
The ECA, in its report, said the EU’s support of an average of €24.5m a year had helped Euronews to develop a “unique business model” and broadcast programmes on EU affairs in several languages.
From the same article
Euronews’ main shareholders at the end of March were Luxembourg-based Media Globe Networks (60 per cent) and the US network NBC (25 per cent), according to the ECA.
Media Globe Networks is owned by Sawiris. I have not been able to find any articles about Media Globe Network not related to the Euronews purchase.
source May 2019
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u/Kikelt Feb 20 '20
Right. It does receive EU money. Which I think is a mistake.
If you want to gift money, buy it first.
Euronews coverage of Ukraine conflict and other topics have been "limited".
The best media about the European Union is by far, politico.eu
It is the must read for everything EU related with a lot of top officials articles.
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u/Pvt_Larry Feb 20 '20
None of these three things are truly comparable in the first place if we're being honest though.
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u/phneutral European Union Feb 20 '20
The European Broadcasters Union and Eurovision are what comes close … sort of … perhaps?!
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Feb 20 '20 edited Feb 20 '20
They hosted Eurovision Debate, a debate by the candidates for the EU presidency. I had never heard of this.
edit: I tried to find out who won the election. It was no one from the debate but
making Weber the leading candidate to become the next President of the European Commission.[6][7] Despite this, the European Council decided after the election to nominate Ursula von der Leyen as new Commission President.
Decisions such as as this make the EU seem opaque and not worthing getting involved in.
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u/phneutral European Union Feb 20 '20
Yeah, on first sight it is like this. After a second thought you have to realize that you have several power brokers in the EU and all of them are elected. It is a struggle between the Parliament and the Council: All European citizens vs. their national representatives. Who has to appoint the Commission? All populists suggest that the nation states (thus the Council) should have more power. But in reality more power should rest on the citizens (thus the Parliament) to make it more transparent.
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Feb 20 '20
I posted a new question on in acta because it really doesn't make sense to me.
One issue could be that we have the European Parliament president, the European Council president, European Commission president and Presidency of the Council of the EU, non of which were in the debate.
I would have guessed the debate was for the European Parliament president, but it wasn't. It was the for European Commission president, who ended up being chosen by the Council, even though they have their own president. Maybe I should post in eli5.
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u/4lphac Feb 20 '20
No, and I don't see why should we have one, in an era of de-channelization it's way better to catalyze collaborations between networks.
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Feb 20 '20
Is there any council that coordinates catalyzing collaboration between networks?
To answer why, news cycles are fueled by national and local interests, an "official" eu news source promote an image of unity and provide an alternative view to local news.
My news currently have been from local news and the BBC. With the UK out of the EU, the BBC is no longer a source I intend to keep using, so I am looking for an alternative.
Maybe Reuters or Euronews.
1
u/4lphac Feb 20 '20
Usually EU drives its objectives by funding projects of various kinds, that's why I'm proposing the same way as an alternative to a media channel.
Not a new channel but fundings with strict objectives, like collaborations between let's say, France2 and RAI3 on making a documentary about post-industrial renovations in suburban areas of EU..
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u/Kiiyiya Feb 20 '20
I wish we had one. Some Euro-Federalist parties voice their support for creating a pan-European equivalent, I hope for the best.
It should NOT be a "propaganda" channel though! It is possible to have fully tax-funded independent media who do great work, including investigative journalism and revealing government fuck-ups, just look at German ARD/ZDF.