Not just about the square banana

One of the few occassions when the British Press covers hard news from abroad aopart from famine,disasters and war is in its covergae of the EU.

That was the opening gambit of our international journalism lecture this morning.

Why is this the case.Well the press can point to the economic argument whereby there is a market for it.People are anti EU and thus want to hear about the sleaze and the beaurocracy.Certainly some of it is business led,no more so that Murdoch who feels threatened by the organisations zeal for the free market.

The stories also exhibit some of the dominant news values such as negativity,sleaze and scandal.

Should we care?Possibly we should.Whatever we think about the EU ,it does have an enormous influence over our lives.Employment law and agriculture are tow such areas that influence the way we live.

Theefore the press surely have a responsibilty to report and accurately reflect what is going on in the cooridors of Brussels.People are entitled to this information on the basis of the democratic process