#nmf27 The event

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27 June 2012, 09.30-18.00

UNITED IN DIVERSITY

Paneuropӓisches Forum für Medienpluralismus und Neuen Medien

Brussels Hemicycle Debating Chamber, Place du Luxembourg/Luxembourg station - 27 June 2012, 09.30-18.00

D ownload full day agenda Download Summary Report - Stay tuned for further updates on this website and at Debating Europe

In case you missed it: watch here the video of the event:


Watch on Youtube: AM Session - PM Session

“Zwanzig Jahre nach dem “großen Vorwӓrtssprung” in der Demokratie befindet sich der Medienpluralismus in zu vielen europӓischen Lӓndern in einer schwierigen Lage. Verwaltungs- oder oligarchische Monopole festigen ihre Position nicht nur in den postsovietischen Lӓndern, sondern auch innerhalb der Europӓischen Union. Die florierenden Internetmedien alleine kӧnnen nicht Garant stehen für eine funktionierende Meinungsvielfalt, und trotzdem sind sie schon Gegenstand von Angriffen. Dieses paneuropӓische Forum sollte die Beitrӓge aller Beteiligten nutzen, um über die Zukunft unserer gemeinsamen Freiheiten nachzudenken. Es sollte eine Abkehr bewirken vom europӓischen Kurs des Nichteingreifens, und die Europӓische Union veranlassen, zum Schirmherrn der Meinungsvielfalt in unseren Nationen zu werden.”

Miklos Haraszti, former OSCE representative on freedom of the media, writer, journalist, human rights advocate and university professor, 7 June 2012

Presented by:

University of Leuven – IBBT (Leuven/Ghent, Belgium)

The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn

(London, United Kingdom)

Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (Florence, Italy)

Devised by: Siobhan Grey (Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers, The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn Advanced Advocacy Committee) and Peggy Valcke (Research Professor KU Leuven, ICRI-IBBT; member scientific committee Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, EUI, Florence)

Advisory Committee: Giovanni Melogli (Alliance Internationale de Journalistes); Damian Tambini (Professor of Media Policy, London School of Economics and LSE Media Policy Project Director); Steven Barnett (Professor of Communications, University of Westminster); Pier Luigi Parcu (Director, Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom at European University Institute); Brankica Petkovic (Media Program Director, Mirovni Institut); Kristina Irion (Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Central European University); Beata Klimkiewicz (Assistant Professor, Jagiellonian University); Sebastian Mueller (University of Bielefeld); Heather Blake (Reporters Without Borders); Richard Dixon, journalist, editor and commentator

Mit dem Beitrag der folgenden Angehӧrigen politischer Gruppierungen im Europӓischen Parlament:

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

The Greens European Free Alliance

GUE/NGL Group

Mit der Unterstützung folgender individueller Parlamentsmitglieder:

Claude Moraes (S&D)

Press Release

The Pan European Forum in the press: what others write about the forum and speakers’ interventions:

Hintergrund

Die Neue Medien Revolution scheint vieles, was man lange Zeit für wahr und gegeben angesehen hatte, überholt zu haben. Doch ist das wirklich so, oder überwiegt der Schein? Bewirken die technischen Neuerungen grundsӓtzliche Verӓnderungen im medialen Machtgefüge, oder werden die traditionellen großen Spieler auch weiterhin den maßgeblichen Einfluß ausüben? Das Neue Medien Forum, das am 27. Juni 2012 in dem Plenarsaal des Europӓischen Parlaments stattfindet, wird diese und andere wesentliche Fragen stellen und versuchen, aussagevolle Antworten zu finden. Dieses besondere Treffen in einer einzigartigen Konstellation hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, Politiker, Vertreter traditioneller und neuer Medien, Wissenschaftler, Nichtregierungsorganisationen, Richter und führende Vertreter der Musik-, Film- und Buchindustrie in einem paneuropӓischen und letzlich globalen Dialog zusammen zu führen.


Auf europӓischer Ebene ist es weithin anerkannt, dass die Pressefreiheit, der Medienpluralism und die politische Beteiligung die Stützen einer Demokratie sind, und als solches Schutz und Fӧrderung verlangen. Die Pressefreiheit ermӧglicht es Bürgern, am demokratischen Prozess teilzunehmen und sich anhand von zutreffenden und vollstӓndigen Informationen eine Meinung über politische, gesellschaftliche und kulturelle Ereignisse und Entwicklungen zu bilden. Dies ist allerdings nur dann mӧglich, wenn die Medien eine vielfӓltige Auswahl an Themen, Ansichten und Stimmen bieten und weithin zugӓnglich machen. Die Einsicht wӓchst, dass sich Medienkonzentrationen in vielen europӓischen Lӓndern zum Problem entwickelen. Ebenso bringt der Aufstieg des Internets, das zweifelsfrei auch herausragende Mӧglichkeiten für die Meinungsvielfalt bietet, auch neue Bedrohungen für die herkӧmlichen Medien, wodurch sich bestehende Problemlagen verschӓrfen.

Zielsetzung

Dieses Ereignis wird sicherlich nicht “noch eine andere Konferenz zu den Medien” sein. Geboten wird ein einzigartiges Forum, um die Chancen und Risiken der Neuen Medien für den Medienpluralismus zu diskutieren. Neben einem bündigen Update zu den neuesten Entwicklungen auf diesem Gebiet, wird es Forum anregende Beitrӓge geben von Sprechern, die offen stehen für neue Ideen, und von Leuten, die in der Lage sind, vorgefasste Meinungen zu beeinflussen, wie zum Beispiel führende Politiker, Richter und Industrievertretern aus den traditionellen und neuen Mediensektoren.

Das Ereignis wird verschiedene europӓische Diskussionsstrӓnge zusammenführen. Medienpluralismus wird in verschiedenen Foren intensief diskutiert, unter anderem in der High Level Group von Vizeprӓsidentin Kroes, dem Forum Medienzukunft, den Ausschüssen des Europӓischen Parlaments, der Europӓischen Bűrgerinitiative Medienpluralismus und dem Zentrum für Medienfreiheit und Pluralismus am Europӓschen Hochschulinstitut in Florenz. Diese Konferenz bietet die ideale Gelegenheit, Vertreter der verschiedenen Kreise zusammen zu bringen, um Themen von gemeinsamen Belang eingehender zu erӧrtern.

Die diskutierten Themen und Zielsetzungen werden in einem Abschlußbericht dokumentiert. Mit dem Auge auf die Verwirklichung dieser Ziele sollen im nӓchsten Jahre Folgedebatten und/oder Workshops organisiert werden (unter anderem im Rahmen des Zentrums für Medienpluralismus und Freiheit in Florenz). Die technischen Entwicklungen stellen uns vor neue Herausforderungen. Ohne eine einheitliche Medienpolitik zur Realisierung des Rechts der Bürger auf Information ist die Entwicklung eines wettbewerbsfӓhigen und pluralen Medienmarktes in Gefahr.

Diskussionspunkte

Schwerpunkt der Konferenz ist die Medienvielfalt, mit einem besonderen Nachdruck auf den Neuen Medien:

Liste der Sponsoren

Debating partner:

Main supporters:

Music Managers Forum Olswang LLP Central European University Allen & Overy LLP Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

And:

  • Alliance Internationale de Journalistes
  • Central European University, Budapest
  • Mirovni (Peace) Institute, Slovenia
  • London School of Economics, Media Policy Project
  • University of Westminster
  • Media Diversity Institute - Open Society Foundation
  • Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières) UK
  • MEDIADEM project
  • Reuters Institute, Oxford University, Robert Picard
  • Edinburgh University, Rachael Craufurd Smith
  • European Federation of Journalists
  • European Alternatives
  • European Publishers Council
  • Association of European Journalists
  • Committee for the Protection of Journalists
  • European Centre for Journalists, Belgium
  • London Press Club
  • UNESCO
  • European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA)
  • Ofcom; Belgian CSA
  • Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
  • European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
  • BBC
  • European Association for Viewers Interests (EAVI)
  • deAuteurs/SACD/Scam
  • Telenet
  • Google
  • Jevons Institute at University College London
  • Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield
  • Uppsala University, Sweden
  • Tampere University, Finland
  • University of Naples, Italy
  • University of Neuchatel, Switzerland
  • University of Hong Kong
  • Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
  • Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • University of Minho, Portugal
  • University of Luxembourg (media law research team)
  • Jagiellonian University, Poland
  • University of Bielefeld, Germany
  • Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign policy, Greece
  • Die Tageszeitung (Taz) German newspaper
  • Irish Times
  • Wired Magazine

Tagungsort

Der Tagungsort ist einzigartig. Normalerweise ausschließlich für die Angelegenheiten des Europӓischen Parlaments bestimmt, hat uns der Prӓsident des Europӓischen Parlaments ausnahmsweise die Erlaubnis gegeben, für einen Tag den Plenarsaal zu belegen.
Unser Antrag wurde vorbehaltlos empfohlen von zwei überparteilichen politischen Gruppen (der Ausschuss für Kultur und Bildung und der Ausschuss für Bürgerliche Freiheiten, Justiz und Inneres) und fand nach der Unterstützung des Vizeprӓsident bei einem Treffen in Straßburg auch die des Prӓsidenten des Europӓischen Parlaments..
Dieser spezielle Tagungsort ist umso bedeutungsvoller, da dies das Jahr ist, in dem die Europӓische Bürgerinitiative beginnt.

Testimonials

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has recently removed almost all of its specific mono- and cross-media ownership restrictions, relying instead on a “media plurality test” incorporated into the Enterprise Act 2002. The test has been at the centre of two controversial acquisition and merger applications over the last few years, the most recent being the attempt by News Corporation, with major holdings in UK newspapers the Sun, Sunday Times and the Times, to take complete control of satellite pay-tv broadcaster BSkyB. The test has been criticised both because of the central role played by government in the process and because of uncertainty as to the criteria to be applied to determine whether there is a “sufficient plurality of owners”, particularly in a cross-media context. For those reasons the Coalition Government has indicated that media ownership rules will be reviewed as part of the lead up to a new Communications Act. There is thus considerable interest in the UK in exploring alternative mechanisms for assessing and controlling media ownership concentration. In October 2011, Ofcom was invited by Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, to assess how practical it would be to set limits on media ownership to protect plurality. He also asked Ofcom to recommend a framework for measuring plurality across different media. Ofcom’s report is expected by the end of June 2012.


Written by Professor Dr Rachel Craufurd Smith, Edinburgh University (UK)


Belgium

Owing mainly to the limited size of the market the Belgium media landscape is highly concentrated, characterised by a high level of cross-media ownership. A limited number of media groups are active in the northern (Dutch speaking) and/or southern (French speaking) halves of the country, and most of them have developed activities in newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and the web. Given the nature of Belgium society – a multi-lingual, multi-cultural society with a large international community in the capital region and considerable immigrant population all around the country – media pluralism and content diversity are important. Both the Flemish Media Regulator in Flanders and the Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel in Wallonia monitor media concentration trends, but their powers to act remain limited either because of a lack of mandate or reasons of territorial jurisdiction. The debate on media pluralism has recently resurfaced after the take-over of the SBS/ProSiebenSat 1 channels, VT4 and VijfTV by “ De Vijver” a holding company owned by Corelio (publisher of popular newspapers like Het Nieuwsblad and De Standaard, and also active in regional TV), Sanoma (publishers of popular magazines like Story and Humo) and Wouter Vandenhaute/Erik Watte (of the successful production house Woestijnvis).


Written by Professor Dr Peggy Valcke, University of Leuven and University of Brussels (Belgium)


Germany

In German constitutional case law, the prohibition of a dominant and prevailing power to form public opinion and the foreclosure of any information monopoly is well developed. For example, the law provides for an independent body with the discretionary power to scrutinize mergers of private broadcasters, or private broadcasters with other media related companies (cross‐media mergers). Secondly, private press and broadcasting operators are subject to national cartel prohibitions based on economic proprieties. Despite the clarity of this regime, several aspects could be improved. The media concentration law was shaped in order to allow the two largest private broadcasters to retain their position and thus legalising the oligopoly. It renders the options to curb concentration almost irrelevant on the private broadcasting market because the ceiling will not be reached in practice. Although in cross‐media compositions it proved to be efficient. Furthermore, new media services – online content – are not taken sufficiently into account. Bearing in mind the increasing importance of online services of journalistic content, an overarching platform concentration law could be envisaged on a European level addressing information monopolies, especially in cases of Europe wide active media organisations or internationally produced content. Provided with market relevant margins and a practical wording in the legislation, such rules could guarantee free and independent media and thus a plurality of opinions.


Written by Dr Sebastian Muller, University of Bielefeld (Germany)


Romania

The Romanian media market is the result of organic growth rather than of a strategized one, therefore it is populous and judging by the titles, diverse. There is no tradition in transparency of ownership; only for radio and TV companies transparency obligations are imposed by law. The Broadcast law supports pluralism of opinions and cultural diversity by limiting ownership and audience concentration to levels preventing undue influence on public opinion, without threatening economic efficiency. Criteria used are the shares one entity holds in a broadcast medium and the audience rate of the news, debates and current affairs programs broadcast by the said medium. The influence on public opinion of an entity – legal or natural – is assumed if it controls more than 20% of the shares of a medium. An entity is considered to hold a dominant position if the weighted average of its influence on public opinion is 30%. Both the shares held by a person and by his family members on a “relevant market” – defined as national, regional and/or local, based on the type of licence the medium holds – are taken into account. There is no provision regarding the limitation of ownership in other types of media or cross-ownership, which led to the concentration of the real influencing power in a number of media hubs, some of them linked to political or business actors.


Written by Ioana Avadani, Director of the Center for Independent Journalism (Romania)


Poland

In Poland, three aspects of media pluralism deserve attention. First, media ownership concentration has been traditionally covered by a competition law, not by media specific regulations. Nevertheless, the National Broadcasting Council holds certain competences to monitor and assess ownership changes in the sector of broadcasting. While competition law offers certain possibilities to prevent monomedia concentration (if this leads to a dominant position on a relevant market), it is questionable how the rules can be used in a rapidly changing cross media and multi-channel environment. Secondly, certain media sectors have been severely affected by media consolidation. The ownership pattern on the local and regional press market has formed a duopoly, that led to repeated takeovers and newspaper closures. As a result, since the last 15 years, circulation and sales of regional and local press has significantly decreased. At the same time, a more diversified ownership structure on the national newspaper market resulted in more stable circulation figures. Thirdly, Public Service Media serving as an institutional extension of sectoral media pluralism, have been gradually losing their significant position, especially on the television market. This trend of the weakening the PSM position has been partly affected by unsuccessful regulatory efforts, political pressures and a heavy dependence on commercial sources of financing.


Written by Beata Klimkiewicz, assistant professor at the Institute of Journalism and Social Communication, Jagiellonian University, Krakow (Poland)


Hungary

In Hungary, a new and controversial new media law has been introduced which can adversely affect media pluralism in different ways. First, the new law grants broad and unprecedented powers to a newly converged regulatory agency the independence of which is granted by statute but may not be real. Under the new media law’s scope all media outlets including internet content services have to be registered with the authority. Second, the provisions on preventing cross-ownership in national print and audiovisual media has been abolished while other media concentration controls continue to apply. Moreover, recent transformation of public service broadcasting created a new and rather centralised system of governance which causes concerns about internal media pluralism. For example, there is now one national public news agency which caters for all the public service television and radio news programmes thereby replacing the formerly in-house news rooms.


Written by Dr Kristina Irion, assistant Professor at the Department of Public Policy Central European University, Budapest (Hungary)


Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a country with minimum ownership restrictions in the media industry. There is no limit on foreign participation in media. The only limit on cross-ownership in the Czech media was enacted by the Broadcasting Act NO 231/2001 for analogue broadcasting (one company should operate only one radio or one TV national network) and by the amendment of Broadcasting Act No 236/2006 for digital broadcasting (one company shall hold only two nation-wide general programming radio or TV services, number of thematic channels is not limited). Because the Czech Office for Protection of Competition considers all mass media a single market, no broadcaster or media company has a dominant position on the relevant market. The print media sector is characterized by vertical concentration, with the main newspaper publisher owning printing plants and controllling the press distribution system. Also the radio and television markets are highly concentrated, with only a limited number of significant players. A major challenge for media pluralism and content diversity is the limited size of the market. This small market size tends to drive all media towards entertainment (which the media owners consider a guarantee for higher profits), than quality journalism. In the light of this situation, the existence of independent public service media is essential for preserving media pluralism.


Written by Professor Milan Smid, Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic)


Slovenia

The specific model of privatisation of state ownership in Slovenia in the early 1990s enabled the State to play important role in ownership structure of the media for almost two decades after the break from socialism resulted in media stakes being subject of non transparent and politically motivated trade and ended up in various forms of media concentration. Media regulation seems thorough and restrictive, but regulatory bodies have not enough capacity and autonomy to apply it. The dominant media groups in both print and broadcasting have recently been the subject of investigation and decisions by antimonopoly bodies, but with no efficient outcome. The latest attempts by the government in 2010 and 2011 to introduce media reforms through two new media laws, including additional safeguards for media plurality and more restrictive measures in the field of media concentration failed because of lack of political consensus.


Written by Brankica Petkovic, Head of the Centre for Media Policy at the Peace Institute, Ljubljana (Slovenia)


Malta

The main issues in Malta are that the composition of the Broadcasting Authority, the members of which are appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister after the Prime Minister consults the Leader of the Opposition. The onus of most decision rests on the Chairman as the Authority is made up of four people, two from each side of the political camps represented in Parliament. The irony is that both parties in Parliament also own TV stations. That is not to say there are not members who take decisions based on their own conscience. But doubts have also been cast about whether there have been cases that some members were acting on party lines. Though Broadcasting legislation in Malta stipulates that each station should be balanced in its political and controversial content, the Authority effectively feels that the political stations balance each other out, even though surveys show that one has much more audience than the other. Another issue is the development of web portals, which are virtually unregulated. Hence TV is also competing with the web, which does not have any of the shackles which are attached to TV.


Written by Natolino Fenech, Head of TV Malta


Spain

Regarding external pluralism, Spain has recently liberalized its older broadcasting regulation with a new General Audiovisual Law 7/2010, which removed some limits on broadcasting ownership and adopted a new system based on audience limits to avoid any dangerous media concentration. The new regulation, even if retained the principle whereby a corporate or physical person directly or indirectly holding 5% or more of the share capital or voting rights of a broadcasting license-holder cannot have a significant shareholding in any other company within the same coverage area, establishes an important exception for national broadcasting license-holders: they are allowed to hold various and simultaneous shares in several national television stations as a result of a merger, so long as their average audience is no higher than 27% of the total audience over the 12 consecutive months prior to an acquisition. The percentage figure was carefully chosen because it only prevented a merger between the two dominant commercial operators in Spain: Tele5 and Antena 3. As a consequence of this regulation, the highs levels of external pluralism achieved with the DTT development has been reduced with the merger between TV channel Cuatro and Mediaset’s Tele5 in December 2010 and Antena 3 and La Sexta in December 2011. Regarding internal pluralism, Spanish parties have not achieved an agreement to establish the Spanish audiovisual independent authority, even if the law before mentioned established its functions, name (CEMA) and structure. Therefore, there is no independent body to monitor internal media pluralism in Spain.


Written by Professor Dr Carles Llorens, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain)


Sprecher

Confirmed speakers and discussants include:
  • Neelie Kroes (Netherlands), Vice-President of the European Commission
  • Nils Muižnieks (Latvia), Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
  • Ženet Mujić (Germany), OSCE, Senior Adviser to the Representative on Freedom of the Media
  • Ingrid Lieten (Belgium), Flemish Media Minister
  • Andris Mellakauls (Latvia), Chair of the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI)
  • Herta Däubler-Gmelin (Germany), Professor Freien Universität Berlin; member European Commission High Level Expert Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism
  • Lorenzo Marsili (Italy), European Citizen Initiative for Media Pluralism
  • Milos Ciric (Serbia), The Hourglass
  • Paolo Celot (Italy), European Association of Viewers Interests
  • Kostas Rossoglou (Greece), BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation
  • Heather Blake (UK), Reporters without Borders
  • Therese Comodini Cachia (Malta), human rights lawyer
  • Geoffrey Roberston, QC/Gavin Millar, QC (UK), Doughty Street Chambers
  • Miklos Sükösd (Hungary), University of Hong Kong
  • Verica Rupar (Serbia-New Zealand), Media Diversity Institute and Cardiff University
  • Hugh Grant (UK), Film Actor
  • Nick Mason (UK), Pink Floyd
  • Sandie Shaw (UK), Singer
  • Brian Message (UK), Manager of Radiohead; Chairman, Music Managers' Forum
  • Christian Van Thillo (Belgium), CEO, De Persgroep; Chairman European Commission Media Futures Group
  • Helen Boaden (UK), Director BBC
  • Lutz Marmor (Germany), General Director of the North German Broadcasting Station
  • Duco Sickinghe (Belgium), CEO, Telenet
  • Santiago de la Mora (Spain), Director Print Content Partnerships EMEA, Google
  • Erika Mann (Germany), Director EU Affairs, Facebook
  • Anu Nissinen (Finland), CEO, Sanoma Media Finland
  • Gina Nieri (Italy), Executive Board Member, Mediaset
  • Tobias Schmid (Germany), Executive Vice-President, Governmental Affairs, RTL–Group, Bertelsmann
  • Ben Hammersley (UK), Editor at large, Wired magazine; member European Commission High Level Expert Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism
  • Jean Paul Philippot (Belgium), President of EBU and CEO of RTBF
  • Edwy Plenel (France), CEO, Mediapart
  • Carlos López Blanco (Spain), Director International Office, Telefónica
  • Pedro Norton (Portugal), Vice-President Impresa
  • José Luis Sainz (Spain), CEO El País
  • Richard Charkin (UK), Executive Director Bloomsbury and University College London
  • Yevgenia Albatz (Russia), Chief Editor The New Times magazine
  • Denis Staunton (Ireland), Deputy Editor of The Irish Times
  • Vadim Makarenko (Poland), Reporter Gazeta Wyborcza
  • Bob Collins (Irlande), Président de la Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
  • Madeleine de Cock Buning (Pays-Bas), Commissaire au Commissariaat voor de Media

Chaired by:

  • Vladimiro Zagrebelsky (Italy), former judge at the European Court of Human Rights
  • Mr Justice Burton (UK), High Court judge, England and Wales
  • Miklós Lévay (Hungary), judge at the Hungarian Constitutional Court
  • Bénédicte Paviot (France), TV and radio journalist, UK correspondent France 24
       
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