About half of the British public feel there is a general negative bias in reporting on EU affairs on television, radio and in the written press, with written press reports seen as the most negative, according to a public opinion poll published by the European Commission today.
About half of the British public feel there is a general negative bias in reporting on EU affairs on television, radio and in the written press, with written press reports seen as the most negative, according to a public opinion poll published by the European Commission today.
Some 48% of respondents indicated that written press reports about the EU tend to be unnecessarily negative. Even those who consistently expressed unfavourable opinions about the EU and the UK's membership, mostly agreed that press reports were too negative (45% versus 27% who saw them as objective and only 18% who felt they were positive).
A staggering 83% of those surveyed said they knew little or nothing about the EU and 43% felt it was the UK government's responsibility to inform them about EU decisions.
The report revealed a clear relation between the amount people feel they know about the EU and their attitude. Those who felt they knew quite a lot or a great deal about the EU were more than twice as likely to have a consistently favourable opinion about the EU’s image and the benefits of membership, than those who said they know nothing at all or only a little about the EU (35% and 17%, respectively).
Older respondents and those with the lowest level of education were the most likely to have a negative attitude to the EU and the UK’s membership (55 and over: 34%, least educated: 39%).
The fieldwork was carried out in the UK between 21 and 25 May 2009 with 1,000 randomly selected members of the public aged 16 and older being interviewed on the telephone.