ABSTRACT
The existence of alternative sources of information, often more balanced and generally more informative, via radio and television is undeniable. Public service broadcasting, despite a fashionable fin-de-siecle prognosis of its inevitable demise, is still a central force for the dissemination of information. If despite the processes of social fragmentation and technological advance, Public Service Broadcasting is able to sustain itself as the major arena for public opinion formation, then concerns about the quality of press performance may well be exaggerated. The chapter examines the efforts of the Commission and European Parliament to promote positively the European cause within the United Kingdom to be decidedly lacklustre and in consequence to leave a lot to be desired. The extent of the insult should of course always be tempered by the knowledge that readers no longer rely on newspapers as the primary sources of information.
