While the corona pandemic still sweeps the continent, Euronews staff and reporters explain why we need borderless news in volatile times.
“You need to address the domestic audience, but always with a European perspective,” said EU-correspondent Elena Cavallone.
Along with Political Editor Darren McCaffrey and Media Officer Jorge Liboreiro, the Brussels-based reporter Cavallone spent Wednesday morning outlining Euronews’ unique brand of pan-European journalism. Paying rapt attention were the young journalists participating in this year’s Youth4Regions programme for aspiring journalists taking place from 11-16 October in Brussels.
The European Angle
“If there is something happening in your country hitting the headlines, you’re not going to apply the same narrative or interview the same people as you would for a national context,” Cavallone said about reporting for Euronews.
“You are going to take another angle – the European angle,” she added.
The approach is unique.
“Euronews is the only pan-European news channel,” said colleague Jorge Liboreiro. “What we are trying to do here is to report for all Europeans from a European perspective. Our news bulletin can open with the Polish elections, and then we can go to Spain to talk about the latest government conflict, and then France, Sweden and Greece.”
This is possible, the media officer explained, thanks to Euronews’ small army of 500 staff and freelance journalists – representing 40 different nationalities – distributed across Europe.
“We cover the whole continent from that perspective, without having a national interest in mind,” Liboreiro said.
But what is pan-Europeanism? And is there anything such as a genuine European identity? Political Editor Darren McCaffrey admitted that answering these questions is not straightforward. And for a news-behemoth like Euronews, the lack of clear answer means discussions on these subjects tend to be on-going.
“For most people, their national identity is more important,” McCaffrey told the Youth4Regions participants. “Europe is also not like the United States. There are not a lot of people going around shouting about how European they are.”
Yet Europeans care about Europe. This was evident, McCaffrey thinks, in last year’s European Parliamentary election, where voter turnout was over 50 percent, according to data from the European Parliament and research agency Kantar.
“That’s the first time that’s happened in decades,” McCaffrey said. “So people do want to hear what is happening outside of their country from a different perspective.”
“On Our Toes”
But while the editor is optimistic about the demand for Euronews’ journalism, McCaffrey admits that the organisation's reporters work in a challenging climate, something which has been exacerbated by the local and international restrictions on movement, which has seriously hampered journalists’ ability to do their jobs.
But the new problems ushered in by the pandemic are just another addition to the by now well-known issues that plague the industry, including the changing logics of mass communication in a media environment rife with different platforms and information sources. At the same time, many people are critical and distrustful of the news media and journalists.
This, however, is not necessarily purely a bad thing, McCaffrey thinks.
“It means we are kept more on our toes,” he said. “What we do is more questioned and the editorial decisions are more open to scrutiny. And ultimately, in my opinion, while the language used is not always very nice from people who attack us, it is a good thing that journalism in 2020 is open to debate and open to question.”
He added, “I hope more than anything, if you look at our coverage, that we manage to present the news as we find it, in an independent and impartial way.”
And while the media landscape is growing ever more fragmented and complex, the Covid-19 pandemic has also underscored the crucial role news media still hold when people need accurate and truthful information, according to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report for 2020. Especially when people need that information fast.
The fast-spreading virus, and the responses implemented to contain and deal with it, weighs on nearly every aspect of life in Europe. Schools, bars and entertainment venues need to know if they can open and what measures they need to follow, parents need to know if their kids can play with their friends, and professionals need to know if they can use public transport to get to work.
No surprise, then, that the Reuters Institute-report found that for six countries where news consumptions surveys were conducted before and after the start of the pandemic, “the coronavirus crisis has substantially increased news consumption for mainstream media.”
Cut the Jargon
But while knowing what is going on is essential for everyone, correspondent Elena Cavallone reminded the Youth4Regions participants that finding and collecting facts are only part of the job for reporters. Knowing how to tell the story is equally important.
“We always try to make European politics into human stories,” she said.
Even in the bureaucratic jungle of Brussels in the 21st century, the age-old truths of journalism thus still hold true. Why should the reader care? Why is the issue important? These are questions every article must seek to answer – whether implicitly or explicitly.
In terms of EU-discussions around new initiatives, like agricultural subsidies, this could for example involve finding the people who are directly affected by it, like farmers, and finding out their thoughts and views on the issue, explained Cavallone. Stories about EU-policy, unlike the debates, should therefore not be confined to the walls of the EU-buildings in central Brussels.
“We go to the core of the issue, and try to see what the link is between politics and reality,” she said.
But when working with the EU institutions in Brussels, notorious for long-winded debates and jargon-filled sessions, this can prove particularly challenging. In addition to making the story relevant for the reader, Cavallone said, journalists must also make it understandable by writing clearly and providing context.
“We have to bear in mind that people, even if they are interested in European affairs, might not have the full picture,” she said. “So first of all I try to give context and to guide the public through European jargon.”
And while still facing a virus seemingly adamant to survive our national and regional measures, getting the full and clear picture is important regardless of if you are French, Spanish, Italian or Swedish.
But the virus is only a new addition to the challenges humanity together face in the 21st century. The issues related to climate change, war and conflict, and financial volatility and inequality are equally not deterred by our national borders.
To address these borderless problems, we thus need borderless news. And for Europe, Euronews’ pan-European journalism is one of the few alternatives we have.
“It really widens your perspective on what is going on,” Cavallone added to the Youth4Regions participants.
By Vilde Skorpen Wikan, Norway
