More EU Media Rules Needed, Say EU Experts; No, No, No, Say Publishers

Michael Hedges January 23, 2013 - Follow on Twitter

To the dismay of some and delight of others the High Level Group (HLG) tasked by EC Commissioner Neelie Kroes to sort out the terrible mess that is European media concluded that it is the European Commission’s job to determine what is good, bad and ugly. Appropriate rules to follow.

This HLG began its work in December 2011 and finished with a 50-page report recommending “independent media councils” in each EU Member State overseen by a yet to be established EC-level authority. A “fundamental rights authority” would also be created and funded by the EC as well as a monitoring agency “ideally part of academia.”

“All EU countries should have independent media councils,” said the report. “Media councils should have real enforcement powers, such as the imposition of fines, orders for printed or broadcast apologies, or removal of journalistic status.” The HLG expert report channeled the Leveson Inquiry in the UK, which removed all doubt that the 21st century news business is beyond the conceptual realm of 19th century legal language.

Because the current media environment is “fluid,” new rules need to cover “all types of journalistic activities, regardless of the transmission medium.” From bloggers to search engines, anybody or anything that puts one word in front of another must conform to approved “codes of conduct.”  User-applied filters supplied by aggregators and search engines to simplify that quest for what’s going by hiding the boring are vile and should be switched off.

“We don’t need new media regulation; what we need are the right conditions for the long term viability of quality journalism and professional media,” replied European Publishers Council (EPC) Executive Director Angela Wade Mills in a statement (January 22). “We look forward to taking part in the debate that follows.”  (See EPC statement here)

The HLG panel seemed to have followed two examples of media rule deficiency. The scandals involving a variety of sins at UK newspapers owned by News Corporation brought warnings of foreign media ownership “especially if there is an agenda to use media power to manipulate public opinion.”  The Hungarian example of partisan political media agendas in media rules and licensing is sufficient to demand EU-wide regulatory harmony.

And those countries seeking EU Membership better look out. “As accession criteria stipulate that a country must be ready to adopt the full acquis, this also entails monitoring and ensuring media freedom and pluralism.”

No mention, again, was made of the historic political influence in Italian public broadcasting. Indeed, the HLG panel roundly endorsed a well-funded public broadcasting system as essential to media pluralism. All European public broadcasting services are derivative of the State broadcasters of old. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) called the report “a useful assessment.” (See EBU statement here)

The good news is that the HLG recommendations are just that. Notwithstanding publishers hearing the “ring (of) alarm bells” (Financial Times), the political temperature in Europe for more rule making in Brussels – even with justification – is brutally cold. But, once again, stakeholders in status quo have commemorated their views.

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