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

ediscovering europe in the netherlands
in the Netherlands, with a brief peaking of media attention during major
events such as ep elections and referenda, only to vanish again afterwards
(Norris 2000; De Vreese 2001, 2007).
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The referendum on the European Constitution offers a good example of
this. Research by the Amsterdam School of Communication Research
(ascor) indicated that media attention for the eu in the Netherlands
increased considerably in the run-up to and during the referendum on the
Constitutional Treaty. However, Eurobarometer opinion surveys by the
European Commission also suggest that more than 50 per cent of Dutch
citizens who did not vote in the referendum felt they had been inadequately
informed about the issue (European Commission 2005, Flash
Eurobarometer 172: 5). According to the same surveys, more than 30 per
cent of the ‘No’ voters based their vote on this perceived lack of information
(Flash Eurobarometer 172: 15). The Netherlands also scores below the
eu average when it comes to the visibility of the eu in media reporting.
Research by ascor on media reporting shows that the amount of attention
given to the European Parliament elections of 1999 and 2004 in Dutch
television broadcasting was below the eu average. Moreover, the lower
exposure relates not only to major events such as European elections, but
also to regular European news (Peter, Semetko and De Vreese 2003).
A matter for eu specialists
Within the various editorial teams, only a small group of specialists actually
deal with topics related to Europe. They, in their turn, acquire their
information from the relatively small group of policy elites within the eu
‘cocoon’ in Brussels and at the national level (including spokespersons on
Europe in the European Parliament, Brussels officials, academics, lobbyists
and trade union leaders). eu items appear only in the international pages
and special international sections. In its White Paper on a European
Communication Policy, published in February 2006, the European
Commission put forward specific proposals to tackle this one-sided attention
by these specialists. Most of the White Paper focuses on the eu level,
such as investments in communication and information by eu institutions
and the setting up of a European training program for public communication.
Meanwhile, the Commission also proposes that more attention be
paid to the ‘human face’ of politics and administrative branch in the eu
(European Commission 2006a). These kinds of proposals are, however,
not sufficient to tackle structural problems at the national level.
A number of newspapers in the Netherlands have responded to the growing
need for knowledge on Europe by producing special Europe-related
editorials and sections dedicated to coverage of Europe. Though praisewor-