224
So far there is no infl uential transnational (e.g. European) media. Nor is there an
international public sphere with a role in governance and political communication. Hence, on the one hand, we have a situation in BSR where an arena for
environmental risk governance exists, including regional actors and networks
like HELCOM and UBC (and also a request from the European Commission’s
White Paper on European Governance that a regional or international public
should be involved and invited to participate in decision-making procedures).
On the other hand, there are obvious obstacles for public deliberation and participation on risk issues in Europe and in different regions in Europe. Important
parts of the public sphere are missing and there are no common agendas or arenas for public participation. Such a situation prevents positive development of
future governance efforts.
5. Risk governance and communication could also make much more use of digital
media platforms. Online media offer spaces and platforms where citizens may
engage in dialogic communication. So far, ICTs (Internet, social media and the
like) are an important source of information for NGOs and other stakeholders
who already possess some adequate knowledge about these platforms, but not
for the public, who often do not know what to look for and where. Finally, it is
important to stress the importance of both multiple and common agendas.
Acknowledgements This chapter draws on results from the research programme ‘Environmental
Risk Governance of the Baltic Sea’ (2009–2015, Michael Gilek, programme coordinator), which
involved research teams from Södertörn University in Sweden, Åbo Akademi University in
Finland, Dialogik/Stuttgart University in Germany and Gdansk University in Poland. The funding
came from the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies and the European Community’s
Seventh Framework Programme (2007–2013) under grant agreement no. 217246 made with the
joint Baltic Sea research and development programme BONUS, as well as from the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Swedish Environmental Protection
Agency, the Swedish Research Council Formas, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher
Education and the Academy of Finland. We wish to express our warmest thanks to these institutions for enabling us to conduct this research, to all participants in the research programme that
directly or indirectly provided useful inputs, to all informants sharing their experiences and to the
two reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of the chapter.
Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial 2.5 License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ ) which permits any
noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s)
and source are credited.
The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the work’s Creative
Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if such material is not included
in the work’s Creative Commons license and the respective action is not permitted by statutory
regulation, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to duplicate, adapt or
reproduce the material.
A.M. Jönsson et al.
So far there is no infl uential transnational (e.g. European) media. Nor is there an
international public sphere with a role in governance and political communication. Hence, on the one hand, we have a situation in BSR where an arena for
environmental risk governance exists, including regional actors and networks
like HELCOM and UBC (and also a request from the European Commission’s
White Paper on European Governance that a regional or international public
should be involved and invited to participate in decision-making procedures).
On the other hand, there are obvious obstacles for public deliberation and participation on risk issues in Europe and in different regions in Europe. Important
parts of the public sphere are missing and there are no common agendas or arenas for public participation. Such a situation prevents positive development of
future governance efforts.
5. Risk governance and communication could also make much more use of digital
media platforms. Online media offer spaces and platforms where citizens may
engage in dialogic communication. So far, ICTs (Internet, social media and the
like) are an important source of information for NGOs and other stakeholders
who already possess some adequate knowledge about these platforms, but not
for the public, who often do not know what to look for and where. Finally, it is
important to stress the importance of both multiple and common agendas.
Acknowledgements This chapter draws on results from the research programme ‘Environmental
Risk Governance of the Baltic Sea’ (2009–2015, Michael Gilek, programme coordinator), which
involved research teams from Södertörn University in Sweden, Åbo Akademi University in
Finland, Dialogik/Stuttgart University in Germany and Gdansk University in Poland. The funding
came from the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies and the European Community’s
Seventh Framework Programme (2007–2013) under grant agreement no. 217246 made with the
joint Baltic Sea research and development programme BONUS, as well as from the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Swedish Environmental Protection
Agency, the Swedish Research Council Formas, the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher
Education and the Academy of Finland. We wish to express our warmest thanks to these institutions for enabling us to conduct this research, to all participants in the research programme that
directly or indirectly provided useful inputs, to all informants sharing their experiences and to the
two reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of the chapter.
Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial 2.5 License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ ) which permits any
noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s)
and source are credited.
The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the work’s Creative
Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if such material is not included
in the work’s Creative Commons license and the respective action is not permitted by statutory
regulation, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to duplicate, adapt or
reproduce the material.
A.M. Jönsson et al.