The introduction of state-controlled national press registers, which press publishers would be legally obliged to join, could easily become a means of subordinating media freedom to state approval, according to News Media Europe, the European Magazine Media Association (EMMA) and the European Newspaper Publishers Association (ENPA).
On Thursday 2 October, the three organisations denounced the fact that “several European countries” were pushing to introduce mandatory national registers of this kind. In their view, this would be tantamount to “distorting the substance and intention” of Article 6 of the Media Freedom Regulation (see EUROPE 13695/21). The latter requires media service providers to make information public that relates to their ownership and financing, and for Member States to entrust national bodies with the development of a database to collect this information.
According to the three organisations, imposing the creation of registers would be tantamount to “turning the obligation for Member States to set up databases into a registration obligation for media service providers”. News Media Europe calls for the tradition of self-regulation of the press in most Member States to be respected. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)