Council of Europes work in the area of Media Pluralism

1
Council of Europes work in the area of Media
Pluralism
Round Table on Media PluralismZagreb, 28
November 2003

• Dr Mario OETHEIMER
• Media Division
• Directorate General of Human Rights
• Council of Europe

2
Outline

• Sustaining and promoting media plurality
  diversity a long-standing objective of the
  Council of Europe

• The approach of the European Court of Human
  Rights in interpreting Article 10 ECHR

• Intergovernmental work adoption of non-binding
  legal instruments

3
Context of CoEs work

• Data-collection, studies, analyse of
  concentration phenomena by committees of experts
  (government representatives)

• Difficult task of proving the overall effect of
  concentration processes on pluralism (endless
  discussions on both negative and positive effects)

• Acceptance that some processes may be harmful to
  freedom of expression monitoring therefore
  important

4
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human
Rights

• Article 10 ECHR does not expressly mention
  pluralism of information

• A number of conclusions can be extracted from
  case-law (Observer Guardian, Groppera Radio and
  Lentia cases)

• for freedom of expression to fulfil its mission
  of informing public debate/opinion, pluralism
  must be guaranteed by State

• restriction to freedom of expression on grounds
  of pluralism is justified (pluralism as a
  legitimate interest under Art.10 2)

• any measures to guarantee pluralism must be laid
  down in law, proportionate and necessary in a
  democratic society

5
Intergovernmental work

• Patchwork of ownership rules across Europe

• No political agreement/will to adopt binding
  measures on media ownership at European level (no
  consensus on which sort of regulatory regime
  would be appropriate to secure media pluralism)

• Council of Europe successful in adopting
  recommendations to Member States on the promotion
  of media pluralism. Non-binding text setting out
  principles and catalogue of measures which Member
  States are invited to consider in their national
  law and practice

6
Recommendation (94) 13 on measures to promote
media transparency

• Transparency a basic pre-requisite for
  concentration control/application of
  anticoncentration provisions (particular
  importance in the context of multinational
  multimedia groups and complex company structures)

• Guidelines which Member States can draw from (in
  the light of their specific context) to enhance
  transparency

• Public should have access to basic information on
  media companies (eg. ownership and management) to
  be able to form an opinion on the value of
  information disseminated

• Competent authorities should exchange information
  and communicate data on media ownership to
  counterpart authorities in other States

• Operators applying for a broadcasting licence
  should disclose information at the time of
  application, or subsequently after obtaining the
  licence

• Transparency in the press sector may be
  guaranteed by legislation requiring disclosure of
  information (on shareholding, interests in other
  media, persons who may have editorial policy,
  statements of editorial policy/political leaning,
  financial data)

7
Recommendation (99)1 on measures to promote media
pluralism

• Definition of media pluralism plurality of
  media companies as well as diversity of media
  types and content offered to the public
  (diversity of media supply).

• Ownership limits proposes that States fix limits
  on media ownership via audience share thresholds
  or total revenue of media companies. No specific
  ceilings mentioned each State should decide
  according to what diversity of ownership is
  economically viable in the country. Broadcasters
  which reach thresholds should not be awarded
  additional licences (or other measures can be
  taken)

• Enforcement of anticoncentration provisions
  should be entrusted to specific media ownership
  authorities or, alternatively, monopolies
  commissions should bear in mind the impact on
  pluralism of mergers in the media sector

8
Recommendation (99)1 on measures to promote media
pluralism

• Ownership limits alone are not sufficient to
  ensure diverse media content. Other possible
  measures (while respecting editorial
  independence) are

• Quotas of original programming in licences (for
  news or current affairs programmes) to reduce
  the tendency of broadcasters to share raw
  material

• Frequency sharing the reserving of space for
  the programming of smaller broadcasters by a
  dominant operator

• ensuring the existence of a variety of sources of
  information

• Ownership and editorial responsibility pluralism
  is strengthened when proprietors do not attempt
  to influence the editorial content of media
  products they own. Editorial agreements,
  conscience clauses, etc mentioned as good
  examples of practice (area primarily for
  self-regulation)

9
Recommendation (99)1 on measures to promote media
pluralism

• Public service broadcasting contributes
  significantly to media pluralism it should be
  maintained/supported financially, in particular
  in the digital context. Advisory programming
  committees (with representatives of listeners and
  viewers) to ensure that programming meets the
  publics expectations are recommended

• Financial support measures (direct or indirect)
  for media entities especially for those
  representing minority languages or existing at
  local/regional levels

• Pluralism in the digital environment should be
  preserved

10
Recommendation (2003) 9 on measures to promote
the democratic and social contribution of digital
broadcasting

• The Recommendation focuses on how to secure a
  balance between economic interests and social
  needs in the transition to digital broadcasting
  need to ensure a wide variety of media reflecting
  a diversity of ideas and opinions

• Despite multiplication of channels, trends toward
  concentration continue

• Member States should create the appropriate legal
  framework to ensure a proper transition to
  digital broadcasting. In doing so, plurality of
  services and quality and diversity of programmes
  should be preserved

• Positive measures should be taken to fight
  concentration trends

11
Other Council of Europe instruments

• European Convention on Transfrontier Television
  (ECTT) guarantees freedom of expression and
  retransmission per se beneficial for pluralism

• Art 10a ECTT no specific obligations for States
  but the importance of maintaining media pluralism
  in the programming of broadcasters is emphasised

• Declaration adopted at the 6th European
  Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy
  (Cracow, June 2000) pluralism of media services
  and content as an essential axe of the human and
  democratic dimension of communication

12
Current and future work

• Contribution to cultural diversity through the
  diversity of media comments on the draft
  Convention on cultural diversity

• Contribution to the 7th European Ministerial
  Conference (Kyiv, November 2004) where media
  diversity will be central, particularly in the
  context of transnational concentrations

13
More information

• Media Divisions website http//www.coe.int/media

• Email mario.oetheimer_at_coe.int