Question to our babelians – why is the internet important for a European public sphere?
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For a long time the EU has been blamed for a deficit of democracy by political science. ‘There is a lack of European public sphere,’ the reproach says.
The fact that no functional European public sphere has been generated until now is due to the absence of pan-European media.
Some pan-European media projects have failed because the diversity of European languages and distribution caused high production costs. These made the products unprofitable. Internet provides a new platform for European media, because it features structural advantages compared to other mass media. The internet is a medium which is especially appropriated to account for a European public sphere.
With my study ‘European public sphere and internet – self-image and function of pan-European online newspapers exemplified on cafebabel.com’, I find out which sites are available on the web, addressing their news coverage of Europe and the EU explicitly to European public. The structure, themes, users, self-concept and function of cafebabel.com are analysed as an example of pan-European websites.
How do pan-European websites contribute to the development of a European public sphere?
Babelians: why are pan-European websites – especially cafebabel.com – important in the European public sphere you share?
by Franziska Horsch
Franziska Horsch studies journalism and communications at the University of Hamburg.