h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The enlargement of the EU is coming forth (http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,408196,00.html), elections for the European parliament have been held, the EU constitution was passed - but all I really know about is Euro 2004: the European Championship.

I WANT to know about the Euro 2004 results, but I also want to know how the decisions taken on European level affect me and my life. I find the news coverage in this respect not well balanced. In my opinion, the overwhelming interest on the Championship should be used for more in-depth information about the countries and our common affairs.

Do you feel well informed about what's going on in European politics, about cultural issues etc.? And do you want to know?

I do not feel at all well informed and I read the Times, so I feel as though I should. I want to know one thing at the moment, did a religious element enter the constitution?

Our media definitely give far more coverage to home news and what happens in the USA at the expense of European news, where it be what happens in other European countries or within the politics of the EU - or at least, this is what I've found when comparing them to the Italian newspapers.

Our lot have correspondents over in Brussels, but they give very little space to what they report - all the tabloids ever seem to be interested in are stupid stories of 'EU Bureaucratic Stupidity' like banning curved cucumbers and so on, while ignoring a lot of the positive work the EU has done for the citizens of this country and failing to scrutinize the areas where we are being let down.

I suspect this state of affairs will continue until they perceive there's a demand for this sort of thing - it's surprising how much notice they do take when people write in about issues.

It's not just the EU that gets neglected in favour of US news, it's the rest of the Commonwealth [with exception of India and Pakistan]and the smaller home nations.

The BBC has a 24 hours news channel and it's the same news items over and over and over instead of breaking news from around the world and in-depth journalism.

I'm sure there's at least 1 war going on somewhere in Africa at the moment, but I don't know anything about it.

There are several wars going on in Africa at present. In Sudan for instance the Arabs ethnic group which holds power is ethnicly cleansing the nation of it's Black population. And Ivory Coast is currently in the midst of a civil war also... And of course Zimbabwe is facing a famine as Mugabe has kicked out the international aid groups ahead of the forthcoming election to maintain his psuedo dictatorship.