Rediscovering Europe in the Netherlands - St Antony's College ...

ediscovering europe in the netherlands
‘communication gap’ by which it is separated from the public (Meyer 1999).
As a result, the pressure on the role of the media as a link in the legitimisation
of European policy is rising.
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The central question addressed in this chapter is how the media might
contribute to a better legitimisation of Dutch eu policy. The chapter starts
by outlining the influence of the various changes in the media landscape,
which threaten the triangular relationship described above between politics,
media and citizens (section 6.2). It then goes on to explore the involvement
of the media with eu policy. Reporting on the eu is constrained
partly by the media’s own interests and logic and partly by the nature of
European decision-making processes and the way in which politicians and
administrators position themselves in those processes. Nonetheless, there
are certainly opportunities for increased media attention with regard to
Europe, which would thus contribute indirectly to a stronger legitimacy of
Dutch eu policy (section 6.3). To achieve this, however, political actors
will themselves have to take the lead by anticipating the inherent media
logic more effectively. Section 6.4 discusses the tools that are available for
removing the existing obstacles and providing politicians and officials with
adequate incentives.
6.2 a triangular relationship between the media, politicians,
and policy makers and citizens
The relationship between politicians, the media and citizens has undergone
a number of changes in the past few decades, which has had drastic
effects on reporting on Europe in the national media and the way in which
this is done. Since the 1990s, rapid internationalisation, commercialisation
and digitalisation have radically altered the Dutch media landscape.
Public broadcasters have to compete with commercial broadcasters, while
newspapers are faced with declining circulation. A small group of foreign
companies owns most of the Dutch media and competes fiercely for sales,
viewer figures and advertising income (wrr 2005: 23-24). In the battle
with commercial broadcasters and media, the written press and public
broadcasters have largely lost their former political or ideological orientations.
Not only did the media lose many of its typical Dutch characteristics,
but also its commercial interests have become increasingly important
(wrr 2005; Broeders, Huysmans and Verhoeven 2006).
This new, commercial logic is at odds with the public functions of the
media, as well as with values such as independence, pluralism and accessibility
(wrr 2005). News selection and content is increasingly determined
by the question of whether items can be ‘sold’ to a large public. This is