About us
The spirit of Nantes
In November 2007, around 50 journalists, journalism trainers and representatives of associations gathered in Nantes, France at the invitation of Laurence Aubron and Christine Lasalle from Eur@dioNantes. This “Néonet” meeting helped to highlight the fact that Europe is not very attractive as an information subject. Yet Europe faces a dilemma. Either the gulf between citizens and the institutions will continue to grow (as underlined by the low turnout in European elections) or citizens will take more ownership of Europe and its challenges. The latter would enable the construction of a political and democratic Europe, united in its diversity, enriched by its differences and capable of improving the lives of citizens in the 27 Member States.
Europe in daily life
With a view to meeting the need to inform European citizens, the idea emerged of using local populations’ information needs and taking into consideration the local and regional impact of European decisions on daily life. To turn this new approach to European journalism into reality, a decision was taken to create a network made up of various partners. These partners would be journalism training schools (with a radio or web-radio) in the different countries of Europe, who would collaborate on the development and practice of local European journalism. Radio was chosen as a communication means, because radio is very much part of people’s daily lives. As a means of production, it also enables the use of relevant educational applications.
Birth certificate: October 2008
An international meeting was held in October 2008, based on the interest and aims arising from the Nantes gathering. It resulted in the creation of the Micro-Europa network, formerly known as ‘RER_J’. This network comprises eight European partners: IHECS in Belgium, Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen in Belgium, Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen (HOWEST) in Belgium, City University London in the UK, Eur@dioNantes in France, BiTS-Iserlohn in Germany, University of Tuebingen in Germany, and the University of Cluj-Napoca in Romania. Once the goal of setting up a network had been achieved, the next stage was to make it operational. The first radio reports and programmes on the themes of food wastage, minorities in Europe, European elections, climate change, and so on appeared in 2009.
Practice and teaching
All these productions can be accessed online. The experience of teaching and practice of local journalism have proved useful, helping to enhance a methodological guide that lies at the heart of the network’s activity. The guide is available on the network’s site in the ‘Tools’ section. The 2010-2011 academic year will see further development of the Micro-Europa network’s activities, thanks to new students – all potential future European journalists.
