MEDIADEM is a European research project on media policy-making processes in EU member states and candidate countries. Its purpose is to identify which policy tools and instruments can best support the development of free and independent media. It is funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme and it is coordinated by the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy. The project started on April 1st, 2010 and will last for three years.

The new OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, released her inaugural report to the OSCE Permanent Council on July 29. The report, issued annually by the OSCE, provides an overview of particular incidences threatening media freedom in OSCE participating states. Additionally, this report includes the Representative’s interventions on the respective issues, as well as a presentation of the Office’s future plans. More »

The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (‘IMMI’), unanimously approved by the Icelandic Parliament on the 16th June 2010, aims to make Iceland a ‘safe haven’ for the world’s media, investigative journalists, and whistleblowers.[1] The initiative is of particular interest to the Mediadem project, in that it will not only identify some of the world’s most media friendly legal regulations, it should also lay bare some of the technical and policy challenges that underpin any attempt to safeguard freedom of expression and access to information in today’s networked, and increasingly international, communications environment. More »

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The draft law decree on tapping, which has recently passed the vote in the Italian Senate (upper house), has triggered an intense debate in Italy concerning freedom of expression, particularly by journalists and the press in general. The act modifies the Italian penal and procedural codes and introduces new clauses sanctioning the behaviour of magistrates, journalists and publishers in case of non compliance.

In particular, the act takes a questionable interpretation of data protection (see the intervention of the Italian Data Protection Authority on the point) in order to limit the quantity and timing of the publication of information gathered through telephone interception in addition to any data concerning existing investigations used in the course of court proceedings. More »

At the Media Lounge event of the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT), the Association of European Radios (AER), the Association of Television and Radio Sales Houses (EGTA), the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA), the European Publishers Council (EPC), the European Association of Magazine Publishers (FAEP) and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) at the European Parliament on 30^th June 2010, the European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, Ms Neelie Kroes, addressed the main focus of the event: media transformation and development in the social life of European citizens. More »

The European Court of Human Rights has recently held that Spain has violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights in a case dating back to 1995 and involving King Hassan II of Morocco. The decision (Gutiérrez Suárez v. Spain, application no. 16023/07) – available only in French – was issued on 1 June 2010 by a Court’s chamber and includes a dissenting declaration of Slovene judge Boštjan M. Zupančič. More »