News Media Europe  invites you to a virtual panel on  “Media freedom & editorial independence in the EU” on Thursday 30 June 2022, from 10.00 to 11.00 am. It will be the opportunity for the industry to ask questions directly to representatives from the FR-CZ-SE trio presidency and the European Parliament’s media working group. Register here.

The European Commission is expected to publish in Q3 2022 a first-ever European Media Freedom Act to address increasing freedom of expression violations. The Commission already set the tone with new Recommendations for the Safety of Journalists and a package against intimidation lawsuits, also known as SLAPPs (*strategic lawsuits against public participation) to remedy growing violence against media professionals. The ball is now in the camp of the co-legislators.

While the European Parliament openly pushes for EU intervention in this field, the Member States are more hesitant to delegate powers in policies that touch upon cultural and media markets.

Nonetheless, Czech Republic announced its intention to place media freedom amongst its top priorities alongside the rule of law. Expectations are also high from Sweden, a country that continues to rank third in the World Press Freedom Index conducted by Reporters Without Borders. We will see how the upcoming presidencies intend to move the media freedom agenda forward, while preserving the traditions and specificities of media markets.

Finally, and because media freedom cannot be achieved without financial independence, the economic aspect should not be overlooked. With European economies trying to emerge from the pandemic, the French-Czech-Swedish trio presidency committed to promoting cultural contents and a robust media sector (programme). We will ask our panelists whether the Council Conclusions for the recovery of Europe’s media have influenced concrete strategies at national level.

Agenda

Date: Thursday 30 June 2022, 10.00-11.00

Location: Zoom webinar

Programme 

• Welcome and introduction by the moderator, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård (5 min)  
• Panel discussion (25 min) with:
  • Aurélie Champagne, Culture, Audiovisual and Copyright Counsellor, FR Permanent Representation
  • Lucie Priknerová, Audiovisual Attachée, CZ Permanent Representation 
  • David Ek, Culture, Media and Sports Counsellor, SE Permanent Representation 
  • Ramona Strugariu MEP, Co-Chair of the media working group in the European Parliament
  • Wout van Wijk, Executive Director, News Media Europe 
• Q&A with the audience (25 min) 
• Recap and concluding remarks by the moderator (5 min)

The event will be streamed live and a video recording will be uploaded. For reference, see our recent events on the Digital Markets Act and Funding European Digital Media gathering more than a hundred participants from the Member States and outside of Europe.

Upon registration, you will receive a Zoom link. For any questions, please write to aurore.raoux@newsmediaeurope.eu .

We look forward to a frank and fruitful discussion!

Warm regards,

The NME Secretariat