Views & Commentary

It is a dismal future that awaits the printed press. The growth of the Internet cannot be considered the only cause of its decline[1] but there is no point denying that the development of Internet-based media services has only made a steep slope more slippery for the print business. In Belgium, the French-speaking newspapers have identified the public service broadcaster (PSB) as an unfair competitor on the tense market of online press and advertising. While the Internet activities of private broadcasters are seen as a mere continuation of existing competition, the fact that the PSB admittedly relied on public funding to support its online presence allegedly causes a distortion of market conditions. More »

Τhe government of Rhineland-Palatinate lodged by the end of December 2010 an application with the German Federal Constitutional Court to scrutinise the constitutionality of the governing structure of the public service broadcaster (PSB) ‘Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen’ (ZDF). ZDF operates nationwide and is one of the most important TV channels in the country. The government of Rhineland-Palatinate in its application contests the composition of ZDF’s Television Council and Administrative Council. It argues that state representatives in both bodies have an undue influence on the operator. More »

The constantly growing importance of the Internet has induced so-called ‘traditional’ media to diversify the forms of their production in order to develop rich and attractive websites. Audiovisual broadcasters had to resort to text to complete their offer on the web while the written press editors included videos and sounds on their websites. As a logical consequence, all editors borrowed from each other’s methods. But current times of financial uncertainty render competition for advertising income fiercer. In Belgium, as well as in other countries of the European Union, the newspapers publishing industry has vividly protested against the development of the public broadcasters’ activities on the Internet, claiming that a state-supported competitor was plundering their resources. In the French Community of Belgium, the press took their case to court, seeking an injunction that the public service broadcasters (PSB) cease all “written press activity” over the Internet, including electronic newsletters and presence on the social networks. More »

On November 9 the Commission adopted its 2010 Enlargement package which includes a Progress Report for Croatia as a candidate country. The section of the Report that examines the progress made by Croatia towards meeting the Copenhagen political criteria notes that, although freedom of expression (including media freedom and pluralism) is provided for by the Croatian laws and is generally respected, editors and journalists continue to report undue pressure from political and economic interest groups. There has been limited progress in investigating threats against journalists who work on cases of corruption and organised crime (only one case about the assassination of two prominent journalists has been processed so far). More »

The European Commission’s 2010 Progress Report on Turkey and Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2010-2011, both released on 9 November 2010, were positively received by the Turkish government. While the government opted for a more optimistic interpretation of Turkey’s progress, the majority of the Progress Report’s findings signal a pressing need to record faster and more ambitious progress in accession reforms. Two areas where little or no progress has been recorded are freedom of expression and the media. More »

The new government in Slovakia, which was formed after the Parliamentary Elections in June 2010, announced the modification of the country’s Press Law, and major changes in the financing and regulation of public service media and the semi-state wire agency, TASR. Although it was reported that the process would last for at least a year (despite the absence of detailed information on the suggested changes), at the end the Ministry of Culture announced a “high speed” legislation process regarding the changes brought to the financing and operation of the public service Slovak Television. 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 »

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 »