Brussels, 21/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament wants an annual check on laws that are likely to have an impact on the freedom of the media and the principle of pluralism in the EU. MEPs would also like to introduce annual reports that assess the respective situations in the member states. This is the message contained in the resolution drafted by Renate Weber (ALDE, Romania) and adopted on Tuesday morning in Strasbourg by 539 votes to 70, with 78 abstentions.
The resolution says that this annual check should be done “by the European Commission, the Fundamental Rights Agency and/or the European University Institute (EUI) Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom”. The resolution also calls for the directive on media and audiovisual services to be revised in order to ensure respect for these principles and for the working conditions of journalists to be improved. The EP therefore wants to take action on the question of “journalists' independence from the internal pressures of publishers or owners and the external ones of political or economic lobbies” and thinks that “media regulatory bodies should always be independent and created by the media sector itself”.
The scope of the directive on audiovisual media services, which was used in the controversy involving the Hungarian law on the media, is expected to be “extended to establish minimum standards for protecting the fundamental right to freedom of expression and information, media freedom and pluralism”. The revised directive is expected to include rules on the transparency of media ownership, media concentration and conflicts of interest. The text states, too, that public media chiefs, management boards, media councils and regulatory bodies should be selected on merit and experience, not political and partisan criteria. (SP/transl.fl)