The one with the messenger

Being a journalist in Brussels became somewhat difficult. All the accusations of fake news, the rise of populism and the ideas it brings, the hate speech we get at times.

I don’t want to use the word ‘victim’: I am not a victim because at the end of the day I chose this job for myself, but the consequences that come with it do affect me. They affect all of us correspondents here.

What surprises me is that paradoxically, in my current task - simply reporting on European politics, I am facing more intimidation and harassment than I was facing ten years ago as an investigative journalist in the UK. I know there are people in Poland who look at me thinking ‘ugh, it’s her again with news we don’t want to hear’ or ‘news we don’t even believe in’.

For the eurosceptics and the populists, we journalists in Brussels work for the 'enemy' - the EU, that being. Truth is, we simply deliver news: we say the European Parliament has voted this and that, or the European Commission has decided this - but as soon as the news are not favorable for politicians back in member states or for eurosceptics, we come under fire. And the attacks are often personal.

(...) Maybe we are to blame as well, for reporting news that don’t come across as they should. But hey - news from Brussels are very difficult to explain to people. I sometimes jokingly tell my husband that my job consists of explaining the EU to a ‘grandmother cooking potatoes at home’. I love my job. I love to inform people, and for that Brussels is the best place to be. It is here that 80% of EU legislation is decided, laws that impact millions of people; Brussels is a mine of news. Of course this also means that we hold huge responsibility in our reporting.

When I arrived to Brussels, four years after Poland had joined the EU, the stories from Brussels were quite positive: my country was showed as "primus inter pares" to other new comers, yet now, the majority of stories concerning Poland and the EU are not very positive… making me the "bad messenger". Don’t shoot the messenger.

Dorota is a journalist covering EU affairs in Brussels, Belgium.
FULL STORY: humansoftheeu.com