Understanding Europe better

The EU feels very far away. In many local editorial offices, it is even seen as a circulation killer. However, local newspapers play a key role in EU reporting. Not only because they still have by far the largest reach overall. They are also close to the citizens.

They can put abstract and difficult-to-understand EU topics into a local context and link them directly to the daily lives of local people. In this way, they can help to make EU policy tangible, understandable and relevant and involve citizens much more in European politics.

How do local newspapers report on EU topics? How do they find their topics? And how can journalists, MEPs and communicators contribute to making Europe more understandable? Muriel Pluschke, research assistant in the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences, investigated these questions in her dissertation. She defended her thesis in January. The publication is still pending.

In this episode, she talks to the presenter of Gesprächsstoff, Mariana Friedrich, about her findings and why she wants to talk to EU critics.

Gesprächsstoff 53 | Understanding Europe better: Why local library items in particular are so important for the EU (via Spotify) (in German)

Listen to the podcast via the university website (in German)