EU Views: Robert Socha
Name: Robert Socha
Nationality: Polish
Occupation(s): Journalist, deputy executive producer for TV documentary programs at TVN Poland.
Connection to Europe: As an International Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, Robert Socha studies the transition of linear TV broadcasters to the digital world. His research seeks to compare European and U.S. developments in video on demand, virtual reality, and video storytelling.
Date of interview: April, 3, 2017
In this episode, Robert Socha focused on the growing income gap in Europe and the United States, and the disconnection between elites and average citizens. Talking about his childhood in communist Poland, Socha expressed his love for the democratic, borderless European project and his pride in his home country advancing since the fall of the Iron Curtain. He admitted, “the EU is not a perfect place – it is often too bureaucratic, lacks vision, too distant to ordinary people,” but ended the conversation by explaining his belief that European identity is based upon a shared past, but that the continent’s complicated history has taught Europeans the necessity of communication.