"The common goal of the European Media Freedom Act must be consistently anchored in the internal market, while the need to ensure diversity at the regional and local level has to be taken into account." Mark Speich the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) Rapporteur on the European Media Freedom Act made these remarks during a CIVEX Commission meeting held in Brussels.
Speich, who is Secretary of State for Federal, European and International Affairs and Media (North Rhine-Westphalia) added "During the drafting process I have considered the concerns of the relevant media players and the concerns of local and regional authorities. As rapporteur I am keen to achieve the objective of freedom and plurality of the media within the internal market in the best possible way, while respecting the Union's order of competences also in the interests of its cultural diversity.”
Addressing representatives of local and regional authorities from across Europe, Speich said that democratic societies are built on media freedom and pluralism and that the CoR is united to protect these principles and to bring together diverging perspectives on how to secure them in an appropriate way.
Addressing the meeting, the chair of the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) of the European Parliament, MEP Sabine Verheyen (DE/EPP), said "The media freedom act wants to achieve the right goals but we need to work on the text. The independence of the board and the reality of the media market will play a deciding role."
Speich opinion stresses that in many Member States the regions play a role in regulating and supporting the media and cultural sectors and expresses regret that the proposal for a regulation does not explicitly recognise this competence. The opinion warns of the potential negative effects of overregulation on the well-established media systems. In this regard, the opinion calls for caution in initiatives aiming to harmonise and centralise the regulation of the media at European level. The opinion adds that this concerns both the European order of competences and the preservation of cultural diversity in the European Union, as well as the possible effects on media pluralism, especially on a regional and local level, that might arise if a purely internal market perspective is applied.
European Media Freedom Act
The European Commission presented proposals for a European Media Freedom Act in September 2022, aiming to protect media pluralism and independence with proposals that include increased transparency of ownership and advertising, more stable funding for public-service media, and measures to protect media content.