Meeting in Nicosia on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 June, the ministers responsible for media and information society from the 47 member states of the Council of Europe adopted a final declaration and four resolutions defining the areas in which the organisation will focus its efforts to protect freedom of expression: digital technologies, safety of journalists, evolution of media and information, and impact of the pandemic on freedom of expression.
With regards to the safety of all media actors, the Ministers invite the Council of Europe to conduct a comprehensive campaign on this issue and to prepare guidelines for the development of national action plans.
The ministers also committed to creating the necessary regulatory conditions for the use of automated processes for the creation and dissemination of information through tools such as natural language processing, ‘robot journalism’ and algorithmically prepared news feeds in a way that respects freedom of expression.
They also call for the development - in cooperation with media professionals - of ethical codes to include online platforms.
The Council of Europe is invited to revise the standards on responsibility for online content, taking into account the role of key players such as search engines and social media platforms, which should take into account election communication campaigns and their media coverage.
With regards to the impact of the pandemic, Ministers stress the need to ensure that existing laws are not used to silence critical voices and recall the importance of ensuring access to official documents.
Link to the Declaration and the 4 resolutions: https://bit.ly/2RIKU6S (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)