EC Rule of Law Report: EU must safeguard media freedom and pluralism in Europe
BFMI welcomes the publication of the third annual Rule of Law Report by the European Commission, which highlights the threats to media freedom, the safety of journalists, and public service media in Europe. The report comes against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which further showcases the importance of upholding democratic values, human rights, and the rule of law.
As with previous editions of the Rule of Law Report, the third edition analyses the situation in four key areas for the rule of law: media pluralism and freedom, justice systems, the anti-corruption framework, and other institutional issues linked to checks and balances. For the first time, the Rule of Law report includes a section on public service media and the importance of safeguarding its governance and editorial independence for the rule of law, democratic accountability and the fight against corruption.
On media pluralism and freedom, the Commission issued various recommendations, covering the transparent and fair allocation of state advertising, the independent governance of public service media, and measures to improve the safety of journalists.
The third Rule of Law report also featured individual recommendations targeted at sixteen EU members, including four countries in the Balkan region:
Bulgaria
Improve transparency in the allocation of state advertising, in particular with regard to state advertising contracted through intermediaries, such as media agencies.
Croatia
Further strengthen the framework for a fair and transparent allocation of state advertising, by establishing clear criteria, good practices and oversight measures to guarantee the effective functioning of the new public tender procedure for local and regional media.
Address the issue of strategic lawsuits against public participation targeted at journalists, including by addressing the abuse of legal provisions on defamation and encouraging awareness, taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists.
Greece
Establish legislative and other safeguards to improve the physical safety and working environment of journalists, in line with the recently adopted Memorandum of Understanding and taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists.
Slovenia
Strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media taking into account European standards on public service media.
Establish legislative and other safeguards to protect journalists, particularly online, taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists.
The media focus of the Rule of Law report comes ahead of the European Media Freedom Act, which is due to be published by the EC in September. The Media Freedom Act will address the issues raised by the report and will establish a legal framework for the protection of media independence and pluralism in Europe.
BFMI echoes the statement from EU Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová that “more safeguards are needed to ensure that the independence of public service media is protected, that public funding is adequate and not used to put political pressure on those media.”
BFMI calls on the European Commission to quickly adopt a comprehensive Media Freedom Act and oblige EU members and accession candidates alike, particularly in the Balkans, to protect media freedom and pluralism.
BFMI previously published a report on the manipulation of commercial media markets and threat to media pluralism in Serbia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, titled The Invisible Hand of Media Censorship. The report recommends the introduction of stronger regulation to enable monitoring of media ownership, reforms to strengthen the independence of public broadcasters and state regulators, and transparency and monitoring of allocation of public funds to media entities.
