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 News From You
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Week ending April 3, 2010
The European Court of Human Rights’ has decided to fast-track a complaint by former Formula One chief Max Mosley, in which he calls for a new law that would oblige journalists all over Europe to give at least two days notice of their intention to expose the misbehaviour of a public figure so that any potential victim can go to Court to try to obtain an injunction to stop the publication.
Max Mosley was awarded damages for invasion of privacy against UK tabloid News of the World when it published an article about Mosley engaging in certain sexual activities in 2008.
The European Publishers Council (EPC) is joining force with media and anti-censorship organisations in condemning Mosley’s proposal that would, in practice, mean that news reports and investigations in the European Union which are clearly in the public interest could be blocked. For example, Members of Parliament in the UK could have prevented the Daily Telegraph from publishing recent stories about their fraudulent expenses claims on breach of privacy grounds and the Sunday Times would similarly have been prevented from exposing UK Cabinet Ministers of abusing their positions for personal gain.
Angela Mills Wade, Executive Director of the EPC said: “If this complaint is upheld, EU governments will be obliged to pass a new law requiring the press to submit their articles to those they intend to expose so they can seek an injunction prior to publication. This flies in the face of editorial judgement as to whether or not a story is in the public interest. The freedom of the press is at stake when investigative journalism can be legally suppressed on a wide interpretation of privacy.”
Free-speech QC Geoffrey Robertson has penned the publishers’ condemnation of this proposal that will be tabled at the forthcoming Court Hearing.
Mr Robertson criticises European Court judges for their “failure to give any sensible or coherent definition to the concept of privacy” and for recent decisions in Europe that over-rule the decision to exclude “reputation” from the definition of privacy in the 1950 European Convention. “Public figures are using this new and unintended interpretation of the law (so that “reputation” is now included in the definition of privacy). This has enabled them to circumvent the law of libel, where truth is always a defence. Whilst not defending the News of the World’s treatment of Mr Mosley, Mr Mosley should have been awarded damages for libel, but not for invasion of privacy.”
Under the European Court’s rules of procedure, the Mosley case, which is “Mosley V UK Government”, can only be defended by the British Government – not by newspapers whose future it affects.
Mark Stephens, Solicitor for the interveners, said: “So much is at stake that we have urgently requested that we be made a full party to the Court Hearing. This is the most serious threat to press freedom in recent history and we are not confident that the UK Government will feel it is in their interests to present a strong enough case against media censorship.”
The Association of European Radios (AER), representing more than 4500 commercially-funded radios from all across Europe, recalled the industry’s guiding principles on EU spectrum management at the EU Radio Spectrum Summit of March 22nd and 23rd:
- First, commercially-funded radios need guaranteed access to spectrum, in all bands planned in the ITU negotiations: regulation must be tailored to local needs in order to allow the best possible development
- Second, no universal switch-off date for analogue radio services can currently be envisaged and decision on standards to be used for digital broadcasting of radio should be left to the industry on a country-by-country basis.
- Third, any shift towards digital broadcasting of radio will most likely require a long process. Decision on the adequate time-frame should be left to each national industry: as a matter of principle, transition to any improved digital broadcasting system should benefit from a long timeframe, unless there is industry agreement to move at a faster rate.
As Vincent Sneed, AER EU Policy Adviser, mentioned during the Radio Spectrum Summit, the AER position papers at www.aereurope.org show that commerciallyfunded radios have been discussing the issue for some time and are indeed taking steps, at national level.
AER takes good note of the Spanish Secretary of State, Telecommunications and Information Society, Francisco Ros Perán’s suggestion to study the situation of digital radio in the EU.
AER also warmly welcomes the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) Chairman Roberto Viola’s statement: “RSPG is tackling this year the issue of radio broadcasting. This does not mean, as was read in some websites, that RSPG wants to close FM. RSPG wants just to discuss on radio technologies, on what is the future of radio”.
Most of AER Members are SMEs, and are local or regional players. Together with the public broadcasters, private and commercial radios constitute the unique European mix, safeguarding current cultural diversity and creativity, and preserving media pluralism.
Although radio might not evoke spontaneously the most modern medium, it has, for decades, been granted with all its attributes: ubiquitous, mobile, simple-to-use and free-to-air. These features also make radio the most intimate medium. Radio listeners thereby access programming they enjoy, and useful information. Radio plays a< fundamental role in today’s society: it is often quoted as the most trusted medium by citizens and is entrusted with many public interest obligations. It therefore needs exclusive access to spectrum, managed by EU Member States.
It should be underlined that, in most of Europe, currently and for the foreseeable future, there is only one viable business model: free-to-air FM broadcasting. This is done on Band II, which only represents 20,5 MHz. Across Europe, nearly every single frequency is used in this bandwidth. Thanks to the broad receiver penetration and the very high usage by the listeners this small bandwidth is very efficiently used. However, as consumers’ habits are changing, radios need to develop on digital platforms: on-air or internet-based commercially-funded digital radio has not yet achieved widespread take up across European territories. These two means of transmission will be part of the patchwork of transmission techniques for commercially-funded radios in the future, but it is hard to foresee when. The switch to digital technology will take long and burdensome investments. And, as mentioned earlier, private and commercial radios are mainly SMEs, who can only broadcast programmes free of charge to millions of European citizens, thanks to the revenues they collect by means of advertising. In 2009, these revenues have dropped from 10 to 30% compared to 2008 depending on the EU Member State.
The House of Lords Communications Committee have today warned of a ‘major public reaction’ against radio digital switchover, scheduled for 2015, unless the Government make the case for switchover and keep the public informed about its impact.
The Committee say that there is ‘public confusion and industry uncertainty’ over radio switchover. There are currently between 50-100 million analogue/FM radios in the UK which will become largely redundant after 2015 when national and regional radio stations are switched to a digital only service. There are also around 20 million car radios which will require converters in order to receive a digital service.
The Committee express concern that due to the lack of public information people are still buying analogue radios which will be out of date in a few years time. They point out that retailers gave evidence stating that they are not getting adequate information on switchover plans so are unable to offer consumers accurate guidance when making purchases. The report also points out that car manufacturers are still fitting analogue radios in new cars and digital radios will not be fitted as standard in all cars until 2013.
The Committee contrast radio switchover with the television switchover programme. They found that the benefits of TV switchover were well understood particularly as it enabled viewers to access new channels. In contrast surveys show that the public are generally happy with the present FM radio system and with the range of programmes that are provided.
The Committee recommend the Government take urgent steps on a range of actions including:
· Providing a detailed plan for universal digital radio coverage including how it is to be funded.
· Developing a policy for the long term use of FM.
· Devising a help scheme for radio switchover financed by general taxation rather than the BBC licence fee.
· Ensuring new digital car radios are fitted with a multi-standard chip to enable their use overseas.
· Encouraging radio manufacturers and retailers to devise a sensible scrappage scheme for redundant analogue radios.
The Committee recognises the importance of radio to the aged and disadvantaged groups and favours a help scheme for radio switchover, similar to that in place for television switchover. However the Committee point out that take up of the Help Scheme for TV switchover for vulnerable groups is running much lower than forecast - at 18% rather than the predicted 65% - and the Help Scheme is heading for a major underspend. This money was raised through the licence fee, which is a regressive tax.
The Committee point out that the BBC and Government disagree over whether the cost of universal digital coverage of their national stations can be met under the current licence fee. The report says that it is essential that a ‘firm and unambiguous’ plan for funding the completion of build-out of the digital radio service is put in place as soon as possible.
The report concludes that given the amount of investment already made in digital radio, reversing the current policy would turn “confusion into an utter shambles”. Although achieving radio switchover in 2015 is ambitious, it does not favour a change of target date at this stage.
Commenting Lord Fowler, Chairman of the House of Lords Communications Committee, said:
“Virtually all the witnesses who gave evidence to the Committee spoke of the need for greater clarity of policy in digital radio switchover. In particular the public are not being told what radio switchover will mean for them. Millions of FM/analogue radios will become largely redundant. Millions of car owners will have to fit converters to receive a digital service. It is urgent that the government now settle policy and in addition step up their efforts to inform the public. There is a danger of a public backlash if this is no done.”
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