Local news and the European Union: an analysis of the management of media and EU institutions

The journalistic accountability of the European Union (EU) is a complex issue widely addressed by the literature, since this political system is attributed an excessive distance from the citizenry. This problem has been exacerbated by a recent rise in Euroscepticism, which reduces confidence in EU news. By contrast to the crisis of international information, local media are increasing their importance in the digital age, which comes from the need to know what is happening in the closest communities. In this context, this study aims to analyze the journalistic management of the EU in local areas. Drawing upon semi-structured and in-depth interviews (n = 14), this research examines not only the perception of the journalists involved on this matter in three European countries (Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom), but also the opinion of European officials devoted to communicative tasks. The results show that the EU news are differently considered by countries, which is related to the national character of media systems in Europe. Among the journalists, the degree of self-awareness about the work carried out is low, while they criticize the communicative work of the EU institutions. This opposes to a certain optimism of European officials, who point to a progressive shift in local ecosystems towards less journalistic intermediation.