In response to growing threats to media freedom and the industry’s viability, MEPs adopted their position on a law to strengthen the transparency and independence of EU media.
In its position on the European Media Freedom Act, adopted by 448 votes in favour, 102 against and 75 abstentions on Tuesday, Parliament wants to oblige member states to ensure media plurality and protect media independence from governmental, political, economic or private interference.
MEPs want to ban all forms of interference in the editorial decisions of media outlets and prevent external pressure being exerted on journalists, such as forcing them to disclose their sources, accessing encrypted content on their devices, or targeting them with spyware.
The use of spyware may only be justified, MEPs argue, as a ‘last resort’ measure, on a case-by-case basis, and if ordered by an independent judicial authority to investigate a serious crime, such as terrorism or human trafficking.
Ownership transparency
To assess media independence, Parliament wants to oblige all media, including micro-enterprises, to publish information on their ownership structure.
Members also want media, including online platforms and search engines, to report on funds they receive from state advertising and on state financial support. This includes funds from non-EU countries.
Provisions against arbitrary decisions by big platforms
To ensure that content moderation decisions by very large online platforms do not negatively affect media freedom, MEPs call for the creation of a mechanism to manage content takedown orders. According to MEPs, platforms should first process declarations to distinguish independent media from non-independent sources. Media should then be notified of the platform’s intention to delete or restrict their content alongside a 24-hour window for the media to respond. If after this period the platform still considers the media content fails to comply with its terms and conditions, they can proceed with deleting, restricting or referring the case to national regulators to take the final decision without delay. However, if the media provider considers that the platform’s decision does not have sufficient grounds and undermines media freedom, they have right to bring the case to an out-of-court dispute settlement body.
Economic viability
Member states have to ensure that public media have adequate, sustainable and predictable funding allocated via multiannual budgets, MEPs say.
To ensure media outlets do not become dependent on state advertising, they propose a cap on public advertising allocated to a single media provider, online platform or a search engine at 15% of the total advertising budget allocated by that authority in a given EU country. MEPs want the criteria for allocating public funds to media to be publicly available.
Independent EU media body
Parliament also wants the European Board for Media Services – a new EU body to be created via the Media Freedom Act– to be legally and functionally independent from the Commission and able to act independently from it. MEPs also push for an independent “expert group”, representing the media sector and civil society, to advise this new Board.
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“We must not turn a blind eye to the worrying state of press freedom worldwide and in Europe,” rapporteur Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE) said ahead of the vote. “Media is “not just any business. Beyond its economic dimension, it contributes to education, cultural development and inclusivity in society, protecting fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and access to information. With this bill, we reach an important legislative milestone to safeguard the diversity and freedom of our media landscape and our journalists and protect our democracies”.
Next steps
After Parliament adopted its position, negotiations with Council (which agreed on its position in June 2023) on the final shape of the law can now begin.
Responding to the concerns of citizens
With its position adopted today, Parliament responds to demands of citizens put forward in the conclusions of the Conference of the Future of Europe, notably in proposal 27 on media, fake news, disinformation, fact-checking, cybersecurity (paragraphs 1,2), and in proposal 37 on citizens’ information, participation and youth (paragraph 4).
Source – EU Parliament
S&Ds: Media Freedom Act protects journalists from pressure to reveal their sources
Brussels, 3 October 2023
The Socialists and Democrats have today led a majority in the plenary of the European Parliament – with their priorities included – for the adoption of the European Media Freedom Act. Thus, they have improved the European Commission proposal for a Regulation put forward one year ago. Thanks to the S&D Group, the European Parliament goes to negotiations with the member states in the Council of the EU and the Commission with a clear position: national governments must stop putting pressure on journalists to reveal their sources with the universal excuse of national security interests. The S&D Group believes citizens have a right to know who owns the media that informs them – and they have also included a provision in this regard. These so-called inter-institutional trilogues will start now and the S&D Group hopes to conclude a deal before the end of this year.
Petra Kammerevert, S&D co-coordinator in the committee on culture and education and negotiator of the group on EMFA, said:
“Just last week, several journalists were arrested in France and were put under pressure to reveal their sources. In the EU, such incidents have been increasing for years, often making the work of journalists impossible. In a democracy, journalists may not be arrested or spied on simply for doing their job. In the provisions we included in Article 4, we protect journalists, editors and their professional contacts against surveillance and against pressure and we reject any general exception to this protection on the grounds of national security. We, the Socialists and Democrats, are long-standing supporters of media pluralism, freedom of expression and journalists. We want to be coherent with our position on blatant cases, such as the Pegasus spyware scandal in Greece, and we do it with our work on this proposal for legislation.
“Speaking of freedom of speech, it is crucial our citizens know who the owners of media are. We, as Socialists and Democrats, have strengthened the rules on transparency regarding media ownership, so that everyone can see who owns media outlets. Furthermore, we have extended the protection of editorial teams from undue interference by owners or management within media houses. Editorial independence is frequently under unwarranted pressure and must be vigorously safeguarded. Media oversight as well as the new European body for media services will have to be completely independent from state influence, including from the European Commission.
“Since every person in Europe has the right to enjoy a variety of different media, ensuring free access to trustworthy media content online is particularly important. By establishing clear procedures for dealing with demonstrably trustworthy content, we will ensure that the media is no longer at the mercy of online platforms. Under these rules, it will no longer be Mr. Musk and Mr. Zuckerberg alone who decide what European citizens are allowed to see online. This is needed to continue to fight disinformation, and to ensure people have access to trustworthy information on social media.
“I am happy the vote today by the plenary of the European Parliament reconfirmed the improvement made by the S&D Group to the Commission’s proposal for a regulation and we will fight forcefully for this decisive piece of legislation to make a real change in the way people access, discuss and share information in Europe.”
Source – S&D Group – Email