Brussels, 16/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has cancelled a call for tender for a highly controversial online media project with an annual budget of €3.2 million.
EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said she had called for the immediate cancellation of the call for tender, which was inappropriate in the modern epoch at a time of budget restrictions. The call for tender was published in June for the creation of a European affairs website, because the Commission says such matters are not properly represented in the written or digital media despite their real importance for people's lives.
The justification for the project in effect criticised the way that coverage of European events is dealt with by the 1,600 or so accredited journalists at the European institutions. In the call for tender, the Commission said that information about European affairs is rare, spasmodic and lacking a wider European perspective, so the idea behind the project was to increase the amount of news on Europe, diversifying current coverage of European affairs on digital platforms, raising awareness of European affairs among ordinary people and encouraging debate into the issues of the moment.
The project was for photos, videos, news reports, animations and interactive content online along with contributions, possibly paid for, from politicians, analysts, scientists and lobbyists. Former reporter Viviane Reding said that the project, dreamed up by Swedish Commissioner Margot Wallström (November 2004 to February 2010), was in total contradiction with the independence of the press. (LC/transl.fl)