The Cultural Compass carries significant hope and potential for the European press publishing sector, provided it is not interpreted too narrowly. A successful Cultural Compass goes way beyond the sole issues of subsidies or working conditions of cultural workers. It must directly tackle whether the Single Market offers the right market conditions for creative enterprises to start, scale and innovate.
Europe’s cultural power depends on strong and economically viable companies that are equipped to compete in Europe and globally. As far as the news publishing sector is concerned, critical elements are missing such as fair competition with tech giants and public service broadcasters, monetization of our intellectual property and a licensing market in the age of artificial intelligence.
The initiative should address these key economic issues in interaction with the democracy and security objectives of the European Democracy Shield. Please refer to our 2024-2029 priorities paper.
In a nutshell, the Cultural Compass should include:
- A strategic approach to culture including journalism:Press products, whether in online, mobile, via apps, print, tv or radio, are cultural products that contribute to a sense of community, public debate and social cohesion. Local and regional newsrooms play a key role for democratic participation and cultural life. Hence news media companies, as part of the cultural scene, should be considered in the Cultural Compass.
- A clear media competitiveness strategy:The economic condition of press publishers has been declining over the past decades, due to loss of print revenues, a broken ad-tech market, domination by tech giants and rising inflation. The implementation of the press publisher right failed to reverse this trend. The Compass must stand up for the economic viability of the press. Fair market conditions and content monetization (copyright, advertising, subscriptions) are the basics of a free, diverse and flourishing journalistic sector. Subsidies cannot be a long-term solution. The Compass should support the strong and immediate enforcement of the existing digital toolkit (DSA-DMA, Copyright, AI Act, EMFA) to level the playing field.
- Strong and unequivocal support to copyright and human creativity in artificial intelligence (AI) regulation:Copyright is the promise to all creators that their work is worth remuneration. It is also a virtuous circle for investments. This promise is being broken by the lack of enforcement against AI companies. The AI code of practice and the summary template are immediate opportunities to introduce meaningful transparency requirements to allow creators to enforce their rights and to sanction piracy. In addition, the Compass should support a better framework for authorization, e.g. through a text and data mining opt-in.
- Protecting independent journalism through subscriptions and advertising:The journalistic business model is under severe pressure, squeezed between dominant tech giants and public service broadcasters. Yet the voice of private news media is crucial to bring pluralism and diversity in the cultural landscape. Consumer protection policies (Digital Fairness Act) must not further restrict the ability for press publishers to monetize content creation through subscriptions (behind paywalls) and advertising (free content) that are crucial for economic viability.
- A standalone news media strand under Creative Europe.Journalism is a public good and as such, deserves to be rendered accessible to all. Support to the news media sector has been a positive addition in the Creative Europe 2021-2027. We call for an equally strong budget for journalism going forward, especially for media literacy activities, self-regulation and innovation projects. Given newsrooms’ lack of resources, we call on the Commission to simplify as much as possible the application process and intensify support to applicants.
Contact: Aurore Raoux