Coverage of the EU by "The Guardian"

The European Union is consistently covered in “The Guardian,” oftentimes appearing as major headlines in political and economic news. Everyday this week, at least one story on the EU has been published, examining internal affairs of EU leaders, EU agenda and upcoming issues. The articles I found most interesting were published on Tuesday, May 24, highlighting the state of the EU and the eurozone, specifically reflecting on the debt crisis in Greece.

On Tuesday, “The Guardian” analyzed the debate on Greece’s need to reschedule its debts. The EU Business Secretary Vince Cable pushes for the rescheduling because it is “the best option, or the least worst option…” and that leaving the eurozone would not solve the problem. The article continued, however, by pointing out that the eurozone has never been exposed to this kind of debt crisis before.  Overall, “The Guardian” only quoted one source who had a very clear opinion on the matter, therefore providing a very one-sided argument to the issue. “The Guardian” writer was the only voice that lightly touched on opposing, which were quickly combated with quotes by Cable.

Another angle of the eurozone was covered in the same day with a grave tone, titled, “The European dream is in danger: prepare for another rude awakening.” Here, “The Guardian” discusses an overlying feeling of apprehension and fear amongst the EU states about the unrest and instability in many major countries that could quickly break down the union and the monetary eurozone. Greece’s debt default, Germany’s rising borrowing costs, Spain’s mass protests and Ireland’s rise in emigration has the EU shaking. “What's at stake this summer is more than just the future of the eurozone, for which there are predictable outcomes. It is the future of pan-European solidarity, which has been implicit in the project of the EU and, recently, in short supply.”

This article had the most reaction of any of the EU articles of the week with 246 comments, 277 Facebook shares and 82 Tweets. This is significant because it shows that this specific topic and analysis is something that the audience wants to hear about. What’s interesting about this observation is when this article is compared to the previous, the straight news analysis is more popular than the traditional news coverage of a similar matter. Both articles discussed general instability within the EU and possibilities for improvement, but the second article, written more as an opinion/column piece, seemed to be more relatable and conversational. The majority of the comments agreed with a few points made in the article, but oftentimes included other opinions that slightly differed, or brought up completely different issues. It seems that the European public prefers a very democratic, checks-and-balances type of journalism that allows the journalist to act as an authority and the audience as contributing writers. 

RANDOM: 'Things' I've Learned and 'Stuff' I've Noticed

Here are a few things that have caught my attention in the past nine days that I've been living in London: 

1. There are practically no trash cans in London. 
2. There are never trash cans in sight when you have a piece of trash in your hands.
3. Trash is not trash, it's litter or rubbish.
4. London is most comparable to NYC, popularly known for its fast pace and big city pulse -- but that is only evident during rush hour on the tubes. The newsrooms and offices of our collective internships have not reflected such a high intensity reputation. They're quite relaxed and have a delayed sense of time management -- not in the sense that they're lazy, but they just set a longer deadline for tasks/stories that can be done in half the time. I'm really enjoying 'getting off-task' for the majority of the day, yet still accomplishing some work... I'm just not sure if I could work in such a laid back environment everyday. Take it, this is just the observation of a few of the students and myself with our respective internships.
5. When boarding the tube, it's free-for-all. 
6. Unspoken office rule: Drink tea two minutes after you walk in the door and continue every 30 min. 
7. London's beauty comes from its architecture and the people. Not to sound abnormally cheesy, but I've become mesmerized by this city, just as many friends have warned me. But what and why does London have everyone so transfixed? Well, the city is old... but old in the historic and whimsical sense. No matter which part of London you find yourself, there's that Old English, stone building, brick street, narrow alleyway, scent of beer and that unrelenting breeze that finds you no matter how far or deep you are into the city. Everything is so compact and this is most obviously seen with the buildings. There aren't any luxurious bayside, grand windows; They're all tall and stacked upon each other, story after story. There are barely any clean-cut, contemporary lines -- a dream-come-true for anyone with ADD because there is always something to look at. 



National History Museum, Tuesday, May 17, 2011.



Streets of the Camden Market, Sunday, May 22, 2011.

8. Londoners are very diverse. I've been trying to run around Regent's Park everyday and it still throws me off to see so many large groups of friends playing baseball, rugby, football and cricket where almost every continent is represented in one team. It's so clear that they're all friends, but I feel like I rarely see this level of comfort and commonality in the melting pot of the U.S. Sure, America has more diversity than I realize, but I've never seen so many ethnicities so casually merge together like I've casually noticed here. It's beautiful to walk down the street or take a jog in the park and see the colorblind-ness of the city. NYC has this, but I've never seen this level of communal reaction before. 
9. London newspapers are not so much sensational, but very blunt. Writers seem to have little to no reservation in releasing details and they rarely attribute graphs or direct quotes -- but they're very conversational. One of my coworkers today said he really likes this style of writing because the stories simply provide all the information without adding personal opinion or extra frill. Naturally, I disagreed with the concepts of systematic and operational biases flashing like neon lights in my head. I feel like I haven't read a real newspaper in days.



The newspapers in London are very straight-forward with limited censoring. This 22 year-old bride jumped off the top of her apartment building after her fiance called off the wedding. As seen here, she was caught. 

Where in the U.S. would you see a photo published like this? Who would publish such details without direct attribution?

10. Traffic runs on the left side of the road, but when you're walking or running on the sidewalk, you are always in the way somehow. When I walk on the left side, there's someone coming at me from their right side. When you try to pass someone while running, passing on the left is not a general practice. You just have to guess.