According to draft regulations unveiled by the European Commission on Friday, media firms looking to acquire smaller rivals will need to make sure that their agreements guarantee media pluralism and maintain editorial independence.
EU press freedom project
The Freedom of the Press Act is a component of the European Union’s plan to stop political snooping on journalists and interference in the media, as well as to guarantee fair and nondiscriminatory public advertising for the media.
The planned regulations coincide with worries about press freedom in Slovenia, Poland, and Hungary.
| “Democracy will only work if journalists have the means and protection to keep those in power and those in power, whether political or economic actors, in check,” Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova told a press conference.
The rules will apply to TV and radio broadcasters, on-demand audiovisual media services, press publications and very large online platforms and video sharing platform providers.
Rules on discouraging espionage programmes against the press
The regulations, which outline protections against the use of spyware against the press, journalists, and their families, will need to be drafted in collaboration with EU member states and legislators.
Sky, Canal+, ITV (ITV.L), NBCUniversal, and Virgin Media Television are all members of the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand in Europe (ACT), which has cautioned against adding more impediments to media mergers.
| “There is also a risk of impacting existing competition frameworks, thus preventing legitimate consolidation to better compete with the tech giants,” she said.
Technology advocacy group CCIA Europe, which counts Google (GOOGL.O), Meta (META.O), and Twitter (TWTR.N) among its members, has criticized a rule requiring online platforms to admit any organization that calls itself a mass media.
| This amounts to a mandatory content obligation for online platforms, which rogue actors could exploit to disseminate abusive, extremist or illegal content as well as disinformation, such as Russian propaganda, under the guise of sharing news,” she said.
