Last Week – The EU parliament and EU-Tube

Just one month to go to the beginning of the EU parliaments elections in June.

What´s happening towards it? In german and european media policy?

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The FK 18/2009 (Funkkorrespondenz) reports, that ERT from greece and the german ARTE agree on the will  to cooperate. The mean cooperation shall happen within the branch of documentation, but also include theatre, music and dance. The german Goethe-Institut gave a comment upon this plans in 2008: “Die geplante Kooperation zwischen ERT und ARTE könnte einen wichtigen Beitrag für den noch langen Weg eines nicht nur wirtschaftlichen, sondern auch kulturell orientierten europäischen Einigungsprozesses darstellen.”

The epd medien 33/34/2009 informs, that the german public broadcasters have to deal with a 271 million deficit the next year due to the accession of freed people caused by the demographic factor. And instead of the appreciated win of 400 million euros, founded on the higher taxes since january this year.

Euractiv mentions the problems of people, trying to monitor meps (Members of the EU parliament) due to the upcoming election on internet services/homepages. So Euractiv reports, that there had several pages with such services to be closed, because of a lot of  complaints of meps. Such complaints revealed to non completeness for example and that way to a non representative survey. For one close example see: http://blog.parlorama.eu/fr/

Euractiv too reports, that the parliament accepted the imcrease of the copyright protection length from 50 to 70 years in the whole EU, to reduce copyright-piracy and uncertainty between USA and EU. Now the memberstates have to accept it too, before it can be introduced into european law.

The SZ has written about ´the unloved collegues from Straßburg´ (03.05.2009). The article is referring to a political election event from the SPD, showing less interests in the european parliaments actions, than in the world wide crisis and other german or national political events. And one interesting point is, that the more power the parliament gets, the less voters went to the elections in the past.

Some new developements: Angela Merkel and other german politicians are conquering Studivz or rigth got a plattform there (named “Meine Stimme zählt” – my voice counts) to represent themselves (something I, as a constant user didn´t notice till today) and the german Left party Youtube (watch: SZ 30.04.2009/Merkel, SZ 01.05.2009/Die Linke, Youtube/Die Linke im Bundestag) with a weekly video-podcast and tons of other videos upon the own “Die Linke im Bundestag”-Videochannel.

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But not only the german lefts got their space on youtube. The EU got here own eutube too. There you can watch videos, produced from the EU, about hereself, explaining the institutions, political actions, presenting the campaign of “Can you here me Europe?” etc. in german, english and french versions.

Also the EU commission presses ahead, the European Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM), who shall “offers a diagnostic, ()  tool on the basis of established risk management strategies. Its purpose is to facilitate the collection of empirical data on various risks for media pluralism given the particular economic, sociodemographic and legal situation in each Member State.” The now published study is part of a “three-step approach on media pluralism in the European Union (EU), announced by Commissioner Viviane Reding and Vice-President Margot Wallström in January 2007 in response to continuing concerns from the European Parliament and nongovernmental organisations about media concentration, and its possible effects on pluralism and freedom of expression.” This process got started in 2007 with a working paper on media pluralism building the base for a discussion of the issues raised by media pluralism. The second step is the mentioned study with the following discussion. After that, to the end of this year, there shall be presented the coming out of the results, as a guideline for furtehr discussions and politics to providing best media pluralism in the EU Member States.

Last week – Is there an election? Anyones listening?

The upcoming EUs elections in June are throwing there little shadow ahead. But mainly through EUs activities, much less in german press.

As I wrote, the EU is improving the use of modern medias to promote this years elections especially and here own being generally. But if you watch daily newsmedia in germany, one can read more about not regular possible elections in Schleswig-Holstein or the coming, but later elections this year for the german Bundestag and government. So the EU further lacks in societies attention.

The EU just cooperates with MTV to promote the EU-parliaments-elections in june. (see: euractiv) To get in touch with younger generations. Therefor MTV broadcasts spots about the upcoming elections. And the campaign “Can you hear me europe?” installed a webpage, where young people shall post comments and oppinions by using Twitter and Facebook (see: can you hear me europe?)

Then the EU started actually a new television program aside to euronews. Now you can watch Euromed news in the internet or, if you(see: euractiv or the official page), founded to:

« Informing people in the southern Mediterranean countries about the initiatives supported by the European Union to generate prosperity in its neighbouring regions, all underpinned by the existing cultural dialogue between the two shores.»

The SZ offers here first article about the EU today as a oppinion about the new left islandic government and their draft towards the EU, on site 4. Than upon page 8 an bigger article about the same theme and one about the EU, supporting a less hard way of politics of the USA against the Iran and his atomic policies. On page 9 they report, that the EU tries within a conference in Bulgaria, actually, to protect from to one-sided addictions from russian gas. Then there´s an article, in the media rubric, that german politicians now are planning to liberalise the german product placement interdiction, following the last EUs audiovisual media service directive.

The media journals like FK 17/2009 (Funkkorrespondenz) do nothing report about EU-media-relations. MP 3/2009 (Media Perspektiven) analyses television watchers consuming behavour and mobile phone television. The epd medien 31/2009 reports about spain, where chief of the government, J.L. Zapatero wants to support the private broadcasters through reducing publics televisions commercialtime per hour from 11 to 10 minutes through a new media law perhaps this year on the way to reduce it to zero (see: epd medien). epd also reports, that the EU parliament supports the new directive against discrimination and about political influences within the austrian public broadcasting ORF.

What shrinked roaming costs will mean

Have you seen in television, what happened today? At the bridge between France and Germany? How Berlusconi, Italiens president, affronted german chancellor Merkel and host of the Nato-summit-meeting together with the other chiefs of NATO member states, while do not giving here the hand but telephoning and following late the others over the bridge. Must´ve been a very serious call. Maybe a new trial? Or was he trying, if the promisses from the EU commission bout limited, lower roaming costs are serious? Hopefully. Otherwise will Italia become a horrendous bill from Telefonica or german Telekom or O2 or whatever… (Okay it was perhaps with the turkish politicians about the now new Nato chief Rasmussen from Danmark…)

No time for newspaper reading?

Munich, 31.03.2009, Stadtsparkasse München, Stadtforum.

After some difficulties with the sound, Jörg Schönenborn, WDR-chief-commissioning editeur and host of the ARD-Presseclubs, discussed with his guest the theme: if there is no chance for original newspapers in the future of the internet. In front of a large crowd and the television crew, they didn´t stay long with the question, if people won´t use their time to read newspapers. They stated, that there are a lot disappearing magazines and journals, that not every investment of publishers in partly upon the same market conquering titles has been a senseful one in the past. But that the situation in germany isn´t that bad as in america. So they got to the point, that the internet is a hope and a danger, while some feared more the danger and others noticed more the potencials. So they blessed the more straight and in time-reaction of users through modern communication forms (email, Twitter, etc.) and feared the new plattforms, aqueiring jobhosts and commercials and that way drawing financial support away from the traditional plattform for that, the newspapers. It has been ascertained, that the peoples are reading more than ever, but more in the internet. And that one big problem is the delay of appearing of the newspapers while having the advantage of better concentrated readers and therefor longer and better investigated articels and informations. So they can not live without internet presentations, but they make big deficit with it because of the free availability. One idea they had, was to adopt the music ideal from itunes. With that they concluded, that it´s not certain, if one will have a news”paper” in his hands in futures mornings. If that´s a problem or not, they couldn´t achieve one point of view. What they also failed in making a difference between modern forms of journalism (Blogs and Twitter – the last got into discredit during the sad happenings in Winneden and Winningen, when a lot of not really investigative news where posted there and some journalists used those) and professional, payed, investigative journalism. So, all in all, as it was appreciated, they didn´t get to an conclusion, what will be the future of the newspaper and if there is a good one or none and what they lost totally out of sense, discussing the financially problems and the consequences of world wide web and Googles and so on, was, if the readers will have time to read newspapers (wether in the net or as paper) or, how he can be brought towards it – if needed. They concluded that while, that there is a responsability to finance themselfes without states aid, because that would hinder probably the “watchdog” function, and that the journalism today is getting better than in the past but needs to be much more improved.

Taking part in the discussion:

Wolfgang Büchner, chief editeur of SPIEGEL ONLINE and designated chief editeur of the dpa (but only there as chief editeur of Spiegel Online).

Ulrich Brenner, chief of the Deutschen Journalistenschule in Munich.

Wolfgang Krach, assistant chief editeur of the SZ.

Dirk Ippen, publisher.

Bernhard Graff, assistant chief editeur of the sueddeutsche.de.

Opening of the new EU information center in Gasteig, Munich

If citizens won´t come towards the EU, than the EU has to come close to it´s citizens. If it would be that easy. It´s not, so the EU-Institutions tried several ways to reach, perhaps more generally to catch it´s citizens. Not always without critics among it´s nations. United in diversity. That´s the slogan. But today it´s probably more `diversed in Union´.

Christian Ude and Margot Wallström getting pictured from a mobile phone user in the newly opened EU´s information center.

While the Eurobarometer surveys cleared up that most people upon the european continent and within the EU are feeling as members of their traditional nations, only a few identify themselves as europeans. And a lot of people do not feel well in formed about functions and impacts of the EU to their lifes. But they mostly think, to get better informed through local or national political institutions than throug the EU. So the EU got critics, when they tried to place commercials and good willed comentatorships in official and private broadcastings sponsored with taxpayers money. What for example the german FAZ and other Newsmedias linked near to “propaganda”. Maybe it´s not. But it shows a lack of reputation in daily life of EU-citizens and media. To improve the EU-idea, the commission and all of the EU-institutions are using all sorts of media. They installed an informationsystem for journalists, providing informations and material (like videos, audios etc.) about actual EU-events, named EBS (European by satellite; over satellite and www). The next parliaments elections you may get noticed to go to vote by your mobile phone (see articel below). And they installed official information bureaus in their member countries. There you can get information sheets about the EU, ask questions and get answers from representators from the EU und enjoy official events with highly ranked politicians from the EU for example. One of these centers opened today in munich, in the third floor of the city´s Bibliothek in the Gasteig. It´s directed to all people of Munich and Oberbayern. Especially, as vize-president of the EU-commission, Comissioner for Institutions and communication strategy of the EU  and official special guest, Miss Margot Wallström told, directed to young people. It´s part of the unions Europe direct debate-campaign, that way sponsored through the EU and every license for it, given for four years with the chance to compete for it again. So the german city of european citizens, as munichs Oberbürgermeister Christian Ude named it, got a new link to european politics and ideas. So there are living only 1,6 percent of german citizens in Munich. But six percent of those citizens with other european unions identifactions than the german one, living in germany. While having prepared 90 places for guests, a lot had to stand behind.

C. Ude and M. Wallström together, presenting an information-pc under the flag with the twelve stars of the EU.

After the openings and the speeches they all walked upstairs to the new information center and conquered the new offer and filled the place for the first time with a lot of life. That´s probably how the EU wishes to held up the interest towards the Elections of the parliament at the seventh of june. Elections, which in the past had no luck of significant interest in the public and especially not in the national societys, as Ude mentioned in his speech.

EU media poll

Slumdog millionaire (8 Oscars winning movie 2009)

Engl.
Social Drama (ca. 121 Min.)

Regie: Danny Boyle
Dev Patel Jamal Malik
Freida Pinto Latika
Anil Kapoor Prem Kumar
Madhur Mittal Salim Malik

“Well, well, the Slumdog barks.”

Who becomes millionaire in India?
A teenager, goes forward in the questions hirachy. That seems to be not going on right for some others like the show master. Does he, somehow, knows the answers? Or the questions? Some tries to find out. Through shadowing and interrogations. Just, prior to the final question. May a so calles dog from the slum, where might and brutality rules, but knowledge not counts, own intelligence? What is it, that Jamal Malik really knows? How much can he bear? What is it, that he has gone through? And, what refers between his past life to the answers? How much chance is possible? The whole life is a quizshow… And this show goes into the childhood of a teenager, his older, but brutal brother Semil and a girlfriend Latika, all of them orphans, goes into the history and surroundings of a huge, uncontrollable country, them all, now sitting together upon the chair opposite to the quiz master. Between dump, begging to survive and rupienmillions. Between childhood and reality. From being a dishwasher to becoming a millionaire? An american dream in India? 20 million rupines in sight, and what else? What about the beautiful love of Jamal´s life? Latika?
In constant cutbacks, the movie goes to the ground of social questions and problems without getting chaotic therefor. A lot of young, extremely convincing actors. Unbelievable intensive. If there just would be smelling in cinema to that…
Just, everyone who is missing this film, don´t knows, what he´s missing. Bollywood meets Hollywood meets social Drama.

„Is his heaven?“ (Jamal)
„We´re not dead Jamal.“ (Selim)
“So, what is it?” (Jamal)

Cinema: First Movie Critic: My oppinion to The Reader (Der Vorleser)

Drama.
The Movie adapts the story from Bernhard Schlinks Best-Seller-Book 1995 “Der Vorleser”.
Berlin, Germany, 1995. That’s the point when this movie starts. But it´s not the starting point of the story. A men in a suite, in a nice Appartement. After a woman leaving, he´s remembering his story. A story, that took place after the second world war. In the german capitol. Him as a kid once. Getting ill and thatwhy in contact with an older woman helping him. But after being fit again, he feels gravitated to her. They are getting first into an sexual affair. And so the troubles are starting. For Michael and for Hanna too. Then she realises his talent as an excellent reader, telling her storys from great authors of all times. He´s the cultural, studying and reading part, she´s the listening, but also the instructing and sensitive one in their relationship. While she´s getting into past related problems, is he getting between family, friends, girlfriends and her. And then she leaves first and then are coming the postwar nuremberg trials. And Michael studying rights thatwhile. And there is one woman charged, to have been a SS-guard during the second world war. Michael knows her. It´s Hanna. Hanna Schmitz. What has she done? Who is she really? The woman of orders, whats not in right order with her? And whats wrong with her story and why is Michael flewing his responsibility and her past and present. Whats the difference between them two? May their hope, as different as it is, hide them from their belonging together? And how can a little tin build bridges between peoples and from the present to the past, from the end, to the beginning?
This great movie contains feelings and claims, love and murder, hatred and tryings to understand, between law and moral. It´s no nazi point of view, it isn´t the opposite. It´s somewhere in between. It´s not morally judging it´s morally asking. Both sides. It´s human.
It´s bringing the viewer near to the human characters with all their faults. Without comparing them, they aren´t comparable in any way because of their very different intense implications. But the border perhaps isn´t that clear, where feelings are. And so one could not escape, getting near and sympathetic to one, one shouldn´t like, aside to one, who is standing between his own side and the other. Impressive actors, a great story and a lot of difficult questions about moral and the negative german past, are making this movie to one of the greatest and most important movies about the post war history. So, this movie isn´t only a “must see”, it´s a “must think about”. Thinking about justice and moral, about love and judging, about learning from faults in the past – mostly from those of the second world war, but also from those after it. For example perhaps: How can a human being trivialize and ignore crimes like they´ve done through the nazis? But too, how can one be judged as a murderer and comparable others not? Why is it so difficult to face up with some difficult problems? Just if that’s the only way to get rid of them?

For more movies look one of my other pagespages

How citizens can not forget to go voting the new EP in june 2009

This is an example for EU using the new media:

Screenshot from the (german version) remembering Page to the EPVoting 2009

http://www.europarl.de/export/europawahl/Startseite_Europawahl.html (German page, the author of this blog don´t knows about projects like this in other countries yet)

How the Elections are called: “It´s your decision”! The EU helps us in Germany, not to forget about it, through tv-clips and remebering-sms…:

If you visit the link above, you will see an interesting new webpage in german language, presented from the EU, established, to inform and to mobilize her citizens in germany for the EP (European Parliament) votings in june this year. You may inform yourself about how and when and where to vote. About the basic facts and laws all around the EP and the EU. If you want, you can give your oppinion to the weighting on political EU-themes by a multiple choice choose. Problem: there are only questions to facts, most EU-interested people will probably value as “most important”. I´ve made some hints for other questions (like New (Lissabon-)treatment?
Nizza – enough basic law for the EU? Just more freedom for travelling and a possibly more strengthen EU through EU-advancing? (Türkei, Ukrain, etc.); More political influence for the EP?; € – less changing currencies, stronger currency?;) And there is a lot of space to improve the pages with (multimedia) content and informations. But it´s a start.

Also interesting (how Jochen Kobusch (Head of the EU-information office in munich, Erhardtstr. 27) told yesterday (16. march 2009) in “Europaforum im Gasteig. Europa im Fokus: Das europäische Parlament” in munich): The EU got free space in  all european big television-providers to send commercials about the EP-elections. The clips shall only being used, to remember the citizens to go to vote the new EP. There shall be no political point-of-view being intended. Thats something unknown, from national Bundestags-elections in Germany.

Hi everyone getting to this blog by misfortune

Hi everyone, I welcome you. Nice to have you here, cause I like visitors – really! But first of all, this is actually only a testblog. My first one. And I´m learning. So hopefully next few days it will be filled with some content. But that´s part of the future. And I´m not able to see what may happen and what may not.
Greets your Poetslam