Feedback on the proposal for a regulation establishing a common framework for media services in the internal market (European Media Freedom Act) and amending Directive 2010/13/EU

With this contribution, the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) at the European University Institute offers a feedback to some aspects of the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a common framework for media (European Media Freedom Act) and amending Directive 2010/13 EU (the Audiovisual Media Service Directive) (now on "EMFA Regulation proposal" or just "EMFA proposal"). With this feedback, the CMPF would like to contribute to the current debate on the act and address some issues that are relevant to guarantee media pluralism, as identified by our work in the "Media Pluralism Monitor" (MPM) and the "Study on media plurality and diversity online" and discussed in recent debates organised by CMPF.The CMPF welcomes the European Commission's initiative of further dedicating attention and resources to protecting and ameliorating the media sector in the EU, given the crucial democratic implication of guaranteeing access to free, plural and independent news. The dual nature of the media services ("special goods", exchanged in a market but having direct links with human-rights related dimensions as well) is acknowledged in the EMFA proposal: one of the Commission's main reasons motivating the need for a European Media Freedom Act is the inability of the media to fulfil their social role by providing quality service produced independently and in line with journalistic standards if they are increasingly facing interference in their editorial decision making, and if they are overwhelmed by the competition of digital actors that impact on their revenues and news distribution. The European Commission has acknowledged the risks for media pluralism in the Member States for a long time, at least since the publication of the 1992 Green Paper on "Pluralism and Media Concentration in the Internal Market: An Assessment of the Need for Community Action". The CMPF supports the claim that a harmonised intervention in the internal media market is needed in order to avoid the fragmentation of domestic regulations now in place throughout the European countries, which not only endangers media companies themselves because of a lack of legal certainty, but it also weakens the guarantees for editorial independence, the work of journalists, and has serious consequences for freedom of expression and information in the Union.