This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The European commission will call for a more responsible approach by the media in the wake of the Sun’s headline last week in which it described Europe’s leaders as “EU Dirty Rats”.

Věra Jourová, the justice commissioner, will condemn a series of hard-hitting front pages in the British press, as she makes the case in a speech for a “European approach to media based on quality and smart regulation, if needed”.

After the Salzburg summit last week, where Theresa May’s central proposals for a post-Brexit relationship were rejected by the EU, the Sun was among papers which castigated European leaders for their approach.

Below the tabloid newspaper’s headline, a front-page opinion article, entitled “The Sun says”, told its readers: “We can’t wait to shake ourselves free from the the two-bit mobsters who run the European Union.”

Jourová, who was set to speak in Vienna at the Fundamental Rights Forum, organised by the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, will warn that the debate in the UK over its withdrawal from the EU has been tarnished by media outlets that have caused division.

The commission’s most senior justice official will argue that the media’s job in holding the powerful to account should be balanced with a responsibility to avoid encouraging hate.

‘Humiliation’ and ‘disaster’: how the UK press covered May’s Salzburg ordeal Read more

Jourová was expected to say: “Media can build the culture of dialogue or sow divisions, spread disinformation and encourage exclusion.

“The Brexit debate is the best example of that. Do you remember the front page of a popular British daily calling the judges the ‘enemy of the people’? Or just last week, the EU leaders were called ‘Dirty Rats’ on another front page.

“Fundamental rights must be a part of public discourse in the media. They have to belong to the media. Media are also instrumental in holding politicians to account and in defining the limits of what is ‘unacceptable’ in a society.”

Jourová, who is from the Czech Republic, will also call for politicians “to show responsibility for their words, and to show restraint”.

She will warn that “hatred is on the rise”, with four antisemitic incidents a day being recorded in France, UK and Germany.

The commissioner will say: “Sadly, the mainstream parties accept some part of this rhetoric of division. It means that exclusion, discrimination and lack of respect for minorities have spilled over from the margins to the centre and don’t meet enough resistance from the media, politicians or opinion leaders.”

She will add: “I lived in a totalitarian regime where there was only one right ideology, only one right government, and only one allowed discourse. Minorities didn’t exist, diversity of views and opinions were not respected. People did not dare to speak up.

“This exclusive nationalism tries to force people to define themselves against others and implies that being a part of a majority makes us somehow better.

“We have to try to understand why people are turning to such a vision of the world, despite our tragic and not so distant history, especially in Europe. And why this discourse is no longer the exclusive rhetoric of fringe and extreme parties. I would argue that the predominant source of this is fear. When we are afraid, we often switch off rational thinking and escape to our instincts, even the darker ones.”