Public Broadcasters and European Elections

At the initiative of Radio Romania and of the European Broadcasting Union, with support from the Association of European Journalists, Brussels hosted on Tuesday a meeting focusing on how public service media in Europe are informing citizens about the implications of the EP elections, how they will work and what is at stake, in an effort to increase participation in the elections.

Corina Cristea, 02.04.2014, 13:15

At the initiative of Radio Romania and of the European Broadcasting Union, with support from the Association of European Journalists, Brussels hosted on Tuesday a meeting focusing on how public service media in Europe are informing citizens about the implications of the EP elections, how they will work and what is at stake, in an effort to increase participation in the elections.

During the meeting, representatives of European public service media, including the Belgian public television VRT and RAI in Italy, emphasised that informing the public of political issues to encourage participation in the democratic debate is part of the “DNA” of European public broadcasters. In 2014, they will provide programmes to raise awareness of the importance of the coming EU elections and how they will affect EU citizens’ lives. The Radio Romania president and CEO Ovidiu Miculescu highlighted the importance of Radio Romania’s mission of informing Romanians around the world, and presented the strategy of the national broadcaster for the period before the European elections, which in Romania are scheduled on May 25th.

Ovidiu Miculescu: “This is quite a good thing. The European elections are drawing closer and people must understand and be aware of what happens, they must be explained things. We must stay close to the young people, and we must be present not only on air, but online as well, in social media. There is a lot to be done, but I thing we are moving in the right direction.”

The EBU Public Affairs and Communications Director Guillaume Klossa talked about the partnership with Radio Romania in organising this meeting:

Guillaume Klossa: “Having with us the Romanian public radio, a station which reaches five million listeners a day, and has an outstanding experience, was very important for us. The message we convey is that there are important public service media everywhere in Europe, which prove they accomplish their mission of keeping the public informed on vital topics for Europe, which is not the case with other types of media.”

Nicola Frank, head of European Affairs for the EBU, said that Radio Romania, as a full member of the organisation ever since 1993, proved to be a professional and reliable partner, which has won the appreciation of the Union.