European citizenship: Can audio-visual policy make a difference?

The European Union (EU) has developed to include the notion of European cit izenship, European audio-visual policy aims to give substance to European c itizenship through the medium of television on the assumption that it creat es an informed and involved public and is a mechanism by which a sense of i dentity can be fostered. Although this proposition may seem uncontroversial , there are a number of underlying assumptions which deserve closer examina tion, and which are the subject of this article. We outline the nature of E uropean citizenship before considering the role of television in the Europe an context. Through this process we identify flaws in the assumptions under lying European audio-visual policy, before going on briefly to identify dif ficulties with the mechanisms through which the Community has sought to put theory into practice.