8/5/2023 0 Comments Media freedomWe stress the need for more clarity here, as this will be an important monitoring and supervisory institution. Lastly, in regard to the newly appointment “Board” (European Board for Media Services), it is still unclear how its independence will work in practice. Standardization would be a huge step forward for fair market principles that the EU Member States should embrace. Fin-tech and add-tech algorithms add to the obscurity and unclarity of audience measurement. It is a step towards standardization which national regulators should take on as an urgent responsibility. The proposed universal standards in terms of audience measurement on platforms is said to be an antidote towards inflated circulation numbers and fake and robot accounts, which in turn could provide for more advertisement transparency on social media platforms. On top of that, the 1 million inhabitant threshold for local governments for this provision seems redundant and impractical. For instance, we do call for a broader definition of state funding in order to effectively regulate all sorts of state funding. We do see other areas that need fundamental improvement. However, it is unclear what the consequences of such an assessment are and how the EU will enforce Member States to address negative outcomes. It requires member states to evaluate plurality of the media landscape and assess the vulnerability of the media sector. The proposed impact assessment on Member States under the EMFA is therefore, in essence, an important first step in safeguarding media pluralism. The EU faces ever-increasing danger to media pluralism through the increased concentration of media ownership. We see the need for an EU wide improvement of the viability of the independent media, which remains under threat, in many EU countries, especially economically, which is why it makes sense for the EU to step into this terrain. Leon: At Free Press Unlimited we welcome the actions of the EU commissioners to develop a more proactive safeguarding of media freedom and especially providing existential guarantees for the independent media to survive at the EU level. What is your initial assessment of the proposal’s strengths and weaknesses? The Commission’s legislative proposal on the EMFA has been eagerly anticipated since its announcement in the 2021 State of the Union speech. Whitehouse Communications sat down with Leon Willems, Senior Advisor International Partnerships at Free Press Unlimited and Oliver Money-Kyle, Head of Europe Advocacy and Programmes at the International Press Institute, to discuss the proposal.īelow IPI is reproducing the condensed interview published by Whitehouse Communications.įor the full extended interview please click here.įor details of IPI’s roundtable on the EMFA taking place in Prague on Friday 2 nd December, please click here.ġ. However, what has been labelled as a “watershed” in Brussels has only been cautiously welcomed by stakeholders – who want improvements to the text. The proposal is being fast-tracked by the Commission as a way of demonstrating the political priority ascribed to safeguarding media independence and pluralism, key pillars of European democracy. According to the Commission, the EMFA seeks to respond to growing concerns over malign foreign influence, hostile state acts towards journalists, and the use of state media for propaganda, both within and outside the EU’s borders. In mid-September 2022, the European Commission unveiled its draft proposal for the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), a flagship new legislative initiative intended to protect media pluralism and independence in the European Union. ( Text below produced by Whitehouse Communications) IJ4EU (Investigative Journalism for Europe).COVID-19: How IPI members face the challenge.Countering Online Harassment of Journalists.Europe: Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR).Helsingin Sanomat Foundation Journalism Fellowship at IPI.
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