EU expansion candidates warned on media issues

Michael Hedges November 6, 2008

Three countries are on the official list for EU enlargement. Five more are considered potential candidates. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn reported this week on the progress… or lack thereof. Media issues loom large.

Turkey’s media policies were roundly criticized by Commissioner Rehn’s report and in a speech given at a EU-Turkey forum (November 4). Banning websites “are becoming a serious concern” as is “the negative atmosphere against the press.” Prominent politicians – including the Turkey’s President and Prime Minister – have been waging a war, of sorts, on major private sector media companies.

The report criticized Turkey’s implementation (“not insured”) of its Broadcasting Law; “ the Broadcasting Council and the public service broadcaster, both remain vulnerable to political interference.” Turkey imposed a license fee tax to fund the public broadcaster and the Broadcasting Council in 2006 but nobody pays. “According to the Broadcasting Council, the fee collection is ‘0’ since January this year.”

Macedonia, officially the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, appears to have the same problem with license fee tax collection…or whoever wrote the report simply lifted whole sections from the report on Turkey. Some sentences are exactly the same.

Croatia has made “substantial progress,” according to Commissioner Rehn’s report. Obviously, it was drafted before a prominent Croatian newspaper publisher was blown up.

The report on Croatia notes that its Law on Electronic Media, amendments adopted in March, is in line with the EU’s Television Without Frontiers Directive. The legislation provides for “professional and independent functioning” of public broadcaster HRT and the Electronic Media Council. Yet, says the report, “some interference in the media landscape by mainly economic and partly political interest groups has continued.”

‘Potential’ candidates for EU membership, according to the report, are falling short in audiovisual policy. Serbia hasn’t signed up to the European Convention on Transfrontier Television nor has it adopted a law on media concentration. Transparency remains a problem for the Commission; “The transparency and accountability of the Broadcasting Agency still have to be strengthened through proper regulations. Transparency in the allocation of regional and municipal frequencies remains insufficient.”

Laws on public broadcasting in Bosnia and Herzegovina still do not “meet the relevant key priority of the European Partnership,” though in general the report say progress in audiovisual harmonization with EU standards is “advancing.”

Montenegro’s Broadcasting Agency (BA) has made progress in technical areas, frequency allocations and preparation for digital broadcasting. And too, the report notes that the BA adopted a rulebook for advertising.

But, public broadcasting remains a bit of a mess. “Diverging interpretations of the public service broadcasting law by the parliamentary parties are hindering the effectiveness and independence of the public broadcaster’s work.” And, too, funding the public broadcaster is a continuing problem. The telecom operator stopped – horror of horrors – collecting the license fee tax rendering the PSB flat broke. The electric utility started collecting the license fee tax in July.

Albania, too, has made progress in media regulation, in particular digital broadcasting. But the regulator National Council of Radio and Television is under funded and under staffed leading to “monitoring capacity … limited by its insufficient technical resources.”

Added to the list of potential EU candidates is Kosovo. Similar to Albania, Kosovo’s Independent Media Commission is “affected by the lack of sufficient human and financial resources.” NGOs set up for media monitoring are “functioning properly,” says the report. The nascent public broadcaster RTK, like several in the Western Balkans, suffers from a lack of funding.

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