Wouldn’t it be great to be able to access foreign news in your own language? A recent STOA study explores the idea of a news streaming platform that could transform how EU citizens access information across linguistic boundaries.
The ESMH spoke with the two main authors of the study from the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom: Dr Konrad Bleyer-Simon and Dr Jan Erik Kermer.
Current research reveals a sad reality: European citizens have access to minimal European news coverage. According to review of comparative empirical studies, traditional media provides roughly one in ten news stories focusing on the EU and even fewer on neighbouring countries. Approximately 30% of citizens say they did not find any EU-related news recently.
This is precisely the issue the streaming platform, which uses AI-powered translation to provide subtitles in all official EU languages, aims to tackle.
As Dr Jan Erik Kermer, Research Associate at the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom and co-lead researcher of the STOA study explains: “This platform addresses a discoverability problem rather than content scarcity, aiming to surface high-quality European news in a media landscape dominated by engagement-driven algorithms that prioritize clickbait over critical information…. This platform would serve as a central focal point for high-quality content from neighbouring countries in multiple EU languages, focusing on local and transnational news rather than Brussels-based coverage to potentially engage wider audiences beyond the policy community.” – Read the full interview with Jan Erik Kermer
The researchers see transformative potential in creating what Dr Konrad Bleyer-Simon, another Research Fellow at the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom and the study’s lead researcher, calls “a communicative space” that would, as Kermer explains, “transcend national borders, reduce biases, and create stronger awareness of shared European identity and common challenges” while enabling citizens to “exchange views and understand each other better across borders,” as Bleyer-Simon indicates.
Access to high-quality information
The study highlights the added value of such platform which will make possible for European citizens to have access to independent, high-quality information that is evidence-based and grounded in facts, and which is crucial factor for a well-functioning democracy.
Konrad Bleyer-Simon highlights the public service aim of the platform:
Dr Konrad Bleyer-Simon Research Fellow at the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom and the STOA study’s lead researcher: “To compete with big international platforms that appear free but exploit user data and spread mis- and disinformation, the project needs to offer an ethical alternative funded publicly by EU budget.” – Read the full interview with Konrad Bleyer-Simon
In addition, the platform could significantly help the millions of EU citizens living in other member states who have voting rights but struggle with language barriers. “For example, an expat living and working in Lithuania has the right to participate in local elections but cannot exercise this right effectively without understanding local issues and discussions,” explains Bleyer-Simon. By providing translation of local news broadcasts, expatriates could follow municipal debates or regional politics in their native language, enabling truly informed participation in both local and EU elections in the host country.
Possible governance
The platform would initially include only public service media to ensure content integrity but envisions a potential for future expansion to private outlets. In addition, to ensure access and the independence of the content provided, the platform would be free to access, possibly funded by the EU budget.
Concerns regarding political interference are mitigated by implementing robust governance structures. Although the platform would be funded by EU budget, there would be strict regulations to prevent editorial control. As Bleyer-Simon explains, “The platform’s public funding covers only infrastructure and technology, not content creation, making the project’s operations essentially nonpolitical, since decisions involve technical rather than editorial matters.” Moreover, editorial independence would be safeguarded through an independent governing board, with participating media outlets potentially having a role in decision-making. “We could, for example, envision media outlets participating in a decision-making process, where a majority can exclude or temporarily suspend outlets that spread propaganda or in other ways violate community guidelines,” Bleyer-Simon notes.
AI translation and challenges
Despite its huge potential, the project faces significant hurdles, particularly ensuring equal representation between large and small member states. To ensure smaller countries aren’t overshadowed by bigger countries such as Germany or France, researchers suggest using algorithms that actively promote diverse content. “Algorithms would aim to promote ‘serendipitous content’ from countries users might not typically engage with, encouraging exposure to coverage from nations they haven’t previously clicked on,” Kermer proposes.
In addition, AI translation accuracy remains problematic, particularly for “low resource” languages with limited training data. “AI translation accuracy remains a significant challenge, particularly for ‘low-resource’ languages with limited training data, which can result in lost nuance, context errors, and mistranslated acronyms or sensitive terms,” Kermer warns. However, researchers are already developing mitigation strategies including the use of local European large language models and clear labelling of AI-generated content, as required by the upcoming EU AI Act.
As Sir Francis Bacon stated, “knowledge is power. “ In a world increasingly polarized, this proposed media platform offers hope: the possibility that technology might actually bring us closer instead of further apart by making democratic participation more accessible.
Useful link:
• European streaming platform for national news accessible in all EU languages: Technical feasibility study
Related content:
• A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Konrad Bleyer-Simon on building a European news streaming platform
• A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Jan Erik Kermer on building a European news streaming platform
• Streaming news platform – technical feasibility study