This article addresses the growing concern about a communication deficit in the European Union, and specifically with the notion that communication technologies may be deployed to overcome existing deficiencies in the dialogue between the union and its citizens. It examines proposed solutions to the deficit, including the notion of a European public sphere, and the creation of 'e-Europe' with the increasing digitalisation of many processes and institutions in the hope that this would make them more accessible, accountable, and effective. It argues that these hopes are rooted in myths, both technocratic and bureaucratic, that ignore the persistence of social divisions in media and communications technology use, and in the necessity of universal values as part of the national and parochial experiential of European citizens before it could be expanded to a trans-national level.
Tijdschrift beschrijving