3' A MISSING LINK MEDIA REFORM, EU ACCESSION PROCESS AND MEDIA PLURALISM IN THE NEW EU MEMBER STATES

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3. A MISSING LINK? MEDIA REFORM, EU ACCESSION
PROCESS AND MEDIA PLURALISM IN THE NEW EU
MEMBER STATES

• Dr Beata Klimkiewicz
• Jagiellonian University
• Kraków, Poland

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• Any successful theory of transformation must
  explain () three phenomena     
• the end of communism,
• the diversity of routes out of communism,
• the logic of the first phase of post-communist
  institutionalization.
•  
• Jadwiga Staniszkis, Post-Communism The Emerging
  Enigma

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COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM

• profound political, economic and social changes,
  that reformed substantially media systems in the
  region,
• long, gradual process of transformation,
• creation of free and democratic media,
• evolution of media systems from unity to
  diversity,
• the birth of fourth estate of media, no longer
  serving as the mouthpiece of government

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OPENING MEDIA MARKETS

• since 1989 a relatively short time in comparison
  with media markets in the older Member States
• an accelerated and intense pace of changes - some
  of them superficial, irreversible and out of
  control, in terms of long term consequences for
  media users
• print press systems a commercial model of market
  supply and demand

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AN OVERVIEW OF LEGAL FRAMEWORKS WITH AN IMPACT ON
MEDIA PLURALISM
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PRIVATISATION THE POLISH MODEL

• transfer of newspapers and periodicals to staff
  co-operatives (71 out of 178)
• sale of the press to private owners
• return of the remaining property to state
  treasury
• an unbalance between the deficit of domestic
  capital and abundance of foreign investment
• press laws contained no restraints on media
  concentration and lacked subsidy measures
  strengthening local and small newspapers

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PRIVATISATION OF THE PRESS
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PRESS BOOM

• proliferation on the press market
• new newspapers - legal and overground
  manifestations of well-established oppositional
  currents (Lidove Noviny in Prague and Gazeta
  Wyborcza in Warsaw )
• local editions of foreign magazines
• continuing titles, new ownership (Nepszabadsag in
  Hungary, Mlada Fronta Dnes in the Czech Republic
  and Rzeczpospolita in Poland)

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BROADCASTING MARKETS INTRODUCTION OF DUAL SYSTEM

• television and radio landscape subject to the
  control under the broadcasting regulatory schemes
  
• markets fundamentally shaped during the first
  licence-granting processes 1993 1996
• initial pluralism of broadcasters, not competing
  for the same audience but complementary
  addressing different audiences and their needs

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MARKET ENTRY OF PRIVATE TELEVISION
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AN OVERVIEW OF REGULATORY BODIES
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EU ACCESSION/ EU INTEGRATION

• adaptation and incorporation of political
  structures and public policies into domestic
  policy discourse and practice
• both levels of governance are complementary and
  mutually reinforcing

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THREE PHASES OF EU MEDIA POLICY

• TVWF Directive free movement of television
  broadcasts and basic common requirements
  concerning advertising, the protection of minors,
  and the promotion of European works.
• 1990s considerations of pluralism and limits on
  concentration of media ownership - the
  initiative failed
• Convergence initiative - 2002 Regulatory
  Framework for Electronic Communications and
  Services, consisting of six Directives.

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MEDIA REGULATION

• political criteria
• culture and audiovisual policy
• telecommunications and information
  technologies
• competition

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EXAMPLES OF COMMISSIONS CONCERN REGARDING
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE MEDIA
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CHAPTER 20 CULTURE AND AUDIOVISUAL POLICY

• legislative alignment wit the TVWF Directive
• participation in the community programmes
  Culture 2000, Media Plus, Media Training
• implementation of audiovisual acquis
• specific issues European and independent works
  provisions and access to major events
• strengthening of national regulatory bodies
  most visibly articulated in the case of Poland,
  Hungary and the Czech Republic

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CANDIDATES PROGRESS IN THE AREA OF AUDIOVISUAL
POLICY
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CHAPTER 19 TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGIES

• liberalization of the telecommunications market
• telecommunication regulatory framework
• national activities to adopt eEurope action plan
• post regulation

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CHAPTER 6 COMPETITION

• need for effective and transparent state aid
  control
• raising awareness of state aid rules among all
  market participants
• imposing clearly defined remits on Publicly
  Funded Broadcasters

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FIVE COMPLIANCE PROBLEMS

• narrow focus
• traditional approach
• priority
• implementation
• distribution of competences

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CONCLUSIONS

• rigid division in the allocation of competences
• narrow formulation and selective treatment of
  media policy
• reluctance to include substantive democratic
  issues
• democratic deficit of the new European Union