The Conference Paying the Price for Journalism and Democracy, organized on 2 February in the European Parliament by the European Federation of Journalists (http://europe.ifj.org/en), with the support of the newly established Media Intergroup, aimed at surveying the current state of health of journalism in Europe. The event was opened and concluded by the EP Members Fajon (Socialist) and Cavada (People´s Party), of the Media Intergroup, it was chaired by Aidan White, General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists and it listed, among its participants, Jeremy Dear, General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists (UK), Chris Elliot, Managing Editor, Guardian News and Media, Verena Wieldemann, ARD, Secretary General (DE) and Adam Watson-Brown, Media Task-Force, European Commission.

Throughout the speakers' considerations, a shared evaluation clearly emerged: it is a difficult moment for journalism in Europe, with several potential disruptive consequences for the quality of European democracy. Lippman's famous words explicitly or implicitly served as a guide for most of the speeches: "The present crisis of Western democracy is a crisis of journalism...All the sharpest critics of democracy have alleged is true if there is no steady supply of trustworthy and relevant news".

What are main the difficulties that journalism is facing? Two main sources of turmoil were identified. First, the press - where most of the journalists still find employment - has come to know a steady decline since a few decades. The impact of technological change has been especially dramatic on newspapers: according to a US study, a further 25 percent drop in employment is foreseen for the next ten years. Second, the economic and financial crisis adds to this trend by producing a further cut of the investments in advertising. The picture presented by Aidan White, the General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists is bleak: only in the UK, 8.000 jobs were lost in broadcasting, a high number of newspapers moved from daily to weekly, and half of the 13.000 local newspapers will close between now and 2013.

The troublesome matter is that information cannot be simply regarded as any other economic activity. As democratic theory classically recognizes, an informed public opinion is quintessential to the quality of democracy. Journalism still has a crucial role to play for keeping citizens informed and act as the watchdog of politicians. The European Union itself, in its Charter of Fundamental Rights, takes in full consideration the role of the media: "the freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected". And indeed, several of the speakers have urged action from Europe. Some have asked for financial support to newspapers and the media, in full recognition of their role as "public services". Others supported an EU directive against media concentration, which was identified as one of the biggest problems especially (but certainly not only) in Central and Eastern Europe. Speakers have also recognized the positive, but largely inconsequential, role played by the European Parliament, which issued several resolutions in support of media pluralism.

In response to these pleas, Adam Watson-Brown, the representative of the European Commission rightly remarked that the core of the competences in the field is based at the national level. Nevertheless, within the legal boundaries set by the Treaties, a more assertive action by the future Commission would certainly be appreciated: as the interregnum is over and a new Commission is fully operational (the vote on the College of Commissioners should take place on 9 February in Strasbourg), it would be a missed opportunity not to address the demands for pluralism originating from European civil society. Before framing too high expectations, however, it has to be reminded that national governments will surely pay their utmost attention to the fundamental issue of information - and they will be keen to remind Brussels what the limits in its competences are.

Edoardo Bressanelli is a PhD researcher at the European University Institute in Florence. His research interests include democratic theory and party politics (with a particular focus on the European Union).