Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

A. Background

On 16 September 2022, the Commission published its eagerly awaited proposal establishing a common framework for media services in the internal market (the ‘European Media Freedom Act’) with the overall objective of laying down common rules for the proper functioning of the internal market for media services. The proposal also provides for the establishment of a European Board for Media Services (the ‘Board’), which will replace the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA), which was established by the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. The proposal has a broad media policy perspective, covering the entire information ecosystem, affecting both media companies and journalists as providers of information services as well as citizens and businesses as recipients of information. The proposal also covers all types of media and the content of media service providers on very large online platforms.

B. Consideration of the proposal at the European Parliament

The proposal is of major political importance, particularly for the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT), which has the responsibility for audiovisual, information and media policies.

The Commission presented the proposal for the first time on 23 January 2023. Very soon thereafter, on 6 February 2023, a public hearing was organised by CULT in association with the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE).

In order to avoid any possible delays and to allow interinstitutional negotiations to take place before the end of ninth term of Parliament in 2024, the rapporteur has decided to deal with the proposal as speedily as possible. Therefore, following intense consultations with stakeholders in February 2023 and the exchange of views in CULT on 28 March 2023, the rapporteur submitted this draft report on 31 March 2023.

The deadline for amendments set by CULT is 5 May 2023. IMCO and LIBE, as the two opinion-giving committees, will adopt their positions by the end of June 2023, allowing the report to be adopted in September 2023. Interinstitutional negotiations could then start in October 2023.

C. Position and key amendments proposed by the rapporteur

The rapporteur considers that media freedom and pluralism are core values, enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. They are not limited to media ownership but also relate to access to a wide range of information. Dominant operators should not unduly influence citizens and there should be transparent mechanisms to ensure that media are truly independent. The rapporteur firmly believes that a free, diverse and dynamic media sector is key to democracy and to nurturing the Union’s cultural diversity.

In economic terms, the rapporteur acknowledges the fact that the European media sector covers a variety of businesses that produce and distribute content. The sector is largely composed of SMEs but there are also some big media companies. It contributes to job creation and growth with a turnover exceeding 3 % of GDP [EC data, 2020].

It is important to highlight that media policy has an interdisciplinary and complex nature and media law has been traditionally regulated at national level. However, it is also clear that over the years, the Union has played an increasingly important role in media policy. This calls for consistency between existing legal acts and the new proposal.

Furthermore, the rapporteur considers that it is essential to recall that Parliament has always been very vocal when it comes to the need to protect media pluralism, denouncing several threats to editorial independence and journalists’ freedom and continuously calling for a holistic strategy for the media sector.

Overall, the Rapporteur welcomes the proposal but recommends a series of amendments in order to clarify certain provisions. Therefore, this draft report contains a number of suggestions that the Rapporteur would like to see taken into account in the final legal text. Some of these make significant policy changes to the proposal and are briefly listed below:

(1) maintaining the right balance between national and Union competences on media pluralism and independence, while ensuring the respect for cultural diversity, national rights and duties and single market objectives;

(2) ensuring coherence and clear interlinks and complementarities between the proposal, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and other Union efforts to promote and support media freedom and pluralism;

(3) safeguarding the independent functioning of public service media providers, while respecting and guaranteeing consistency with the Amsterdam Protocol;

(4) guaranteeing the full independence of the European Board for Media Services, which replaces the ERGA;

(5) detailing the scope of certain measures and existing structures in place and clarifying cooperation mechanisms between all the authorities involved in order to mitigate future enforcement challenges;

(6) clarifying the relationship between media service providers and very large online platforms, on the one hand, and the protection of media content and editorial independence, on the other;

(7) recommending future-oriented measures related to media pluralism and to the viability, resilience and digital transformation of the media sector.