- EU’s communication policy has to come back to the people
As we previously anticipated in our earlier article, we are dealing with a change of system that it´s affecting the whole EU structure (TGA theory). We understand that this process takes place because we are using political and economic structures that are outmoded compared to the social structures we are moving into. So we can say that, the nineteenth century structures are no longer suitable for twenty-first century needs.
In the last months we have seen how a global change is taking place, not only in Europe but in Latin America, Asia and the Arabian world, we don’t know really the direction of this change and in which level is affecting the super-structures. However, quoting the Indian economist and women-rights activist Jayati Ghosh, despite we are working on it we have not achieved yet the real transformation for the forthcoming new world.
The expansion of a wilder version of capitalism has reached the heart of Politics, affecting the project of European unity undertaken after the Second World War. While in the main media the role played by stakeholders regarding the auto-censorship of journalists, the coverage of certain news in sacrifice of others or a more and more glaring slant that has been prove as harmful for the Right of Information itself. This phenomenon has been transferred to the decision-making arena in the EU also. As bankers and house building entrepreneurs are sitting in the mainstream papers´ board of directors, the former Hedge Funds´ and Rating Agencies´ men are sitting in the ECB and other important decision-making institutions. Regarding that, there is a commonly held view that those decisions seem not to take the people real needs into account.
Every action has its own reaction and the first one has been the citizen´s exodus towards social networks seen more and more as a new democratic means where the strict hierarchy has been replaced by other frameworks like the adhocracy, a more flexible form of social organization. Related with this point we have to take into account that this kind new (digital) militancy cannot replace the traditional one, so that’s why is very important to open Europe to direct ways of participation.
A second consequence that we could describe is a new journalistic stream: the newly created independent Medias under the form of co-ops growth where the professionals of information prefer the developing of a good-quality paper rather that earning high wages. As a good sample we could highlight Fria Tidningen, the Swedish newspaper that is able to run 20 mastheads without accepting any kind of advertising thanks to its 40 supporters and covers the information generated by social movements that wouldn´t ever reach the newpaper´s front page otherwise. The German paper Tageszeitung is other one. This business model, more popular in Northern Europe, is taking off in the Mediterranean Europe.
To sum up: the fringe is gaining more and more ground over the mainstream both politically as well as journalistically. The former powerful media, key in the building of the democratic awareness, now are neither providing audiences with critical views nor reflection, or debate, or surprise or knowledge. They have been lost in a news agency´s information and bipartisanship-partisans opinionated blend. And the same have happened to the EU´s communication policy which has to urgently come back to people.
Consequently citizen are claiming for more open democracy, participation and their rights maintenance –some NGOs as Human Right Watch and International Amnesty are warning about the undermining of social, political and labor rights using the turndown as an alibi-. Within that, the right to be accurately informed as a base to exercise the rest of the human rights is being seriously unredeemed.
There is no shadow of a doubt that we are globally facing a turning point. People are opposing, rejecting and piecemeal transforming the political, economic, cultural and social structures as the best way forward a depth democracy.
