Voyage of Discovery - Why the Diversity within European Journalism Presents Unique Challenges for Communication Professionals

Abstract

Despite the growing political and economical importance of the European Union, there is still no such thing as a European public. Media and journalism systems across Europe vary greatly, which creates a huge theoretical and practical challenge for public relations professionals. In his five step introduction to this problem, the author examines the similarities and differences between various different European countries in several contexts. He begins with the standard general context, touching on social and political aspects, before moving on to look at the structural context facing media institutions. He progresses to look at the degree of similarity between journalists in different European countries, before presenting one attempt to group the differences between countries in an analytical model. The conclusions aim to help public relations and communications professionals in Europe consider how to approach more strategy oriented practice.

Keywords: journalism, PR, Europe, communications

JEL Classification: Z00