EUMAP participates in the 7th Council of Europe Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy (Kiev, 10-11 March 2005)

On 10-11 March 2005, representatives from EUMAP and other NGOs participated in the 7th Council of Europe (CoE) Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy, in Kiev (Ukraine). Although the monitoring of 20 European countries presently being carried out by EUMAP, in collaboration with NMP - “TV across Europe” –is not yet completed, its editors thought it useful to contribute to the Kiev debate some preliminary conclusions in the form of recommendations.

EUMAPs participation was made possible by the invitation to NGOs, made in early 2004 by the CoE’s Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM), to submit comments for the preparation of the Ministerial Conference and participate in the meeting. At the final NGO Forum, held in Kiev on 8 March, ahead of the ministerial meeting, EUMAP and a number of NGOs presented a number of recommendations for inclusion into the resolutions and action plans to be adopted by the Council of Europe’s ministers.

Thanks to the openness of the CDMM, the NGO impact on the final output of the conference was quite exceptional, with many NGO proposals included into the final documents. This meeting can thus be regarded as the beginning of an improved phase in the relationship between civil society and political in the area of media policy. This increased participation of civil society in the policy-making process needs now to be replicated at the national levels.

EUMAP’s recommendations to the NGO forum held in Kyiv on 8 March 2005 included:

1. De-politicisation of broadcasting regulators and broadcasters;
2. A solution to the “identity crisis” that public service broadcasting is experiencing in Europe;
3. Increased transparency of media ownership and further restrictions on the concentration of media ownership;
4. Improved professional journalistic standards and practices.
5. Increased public participation in the adoption of media policy and monitoring of broadcasting.

The NGO forum agreed on a set of amendments to the CoE’s draft political texts and presented these to the CDMM. Convening on 9 March, the CDMM agreed to include in the final draft texts a dozen amendments proposed by the NGO Forum, including a number of those suggested by EUMAP. On 10 and 11 March, the NGO community also participated in the Ministerial Conference and were allocated three dedicated slots on the programme. On 11 March, the Conference formally adopted a political declaration, three resolutions, and one action plan.

The following EUMAP proposals were included into the final documents:

• EUMAP’s proposal regarding the importance of guaranteeing the political, financial and operational independence of broadcasting regulators was supported by the NGO Forum and included in the final text of Resolution No. 2 (art.19). Although the question of the independence of the regulatory authorities was included in previous CoE political documents (in particular, Resolution No. 2 on the regulatory framework for the media, adopted at the 5th Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy in Thessaloniki, 1997), the NGO Forum in Kiev nonetheless considered it important to reiterate this in the documents adopted in Kiev.
• EUMAP’s proposals concerning the need for increased transparency of media ownership and the promotion of media literacy were also supported by the NGO meeting and incorporated in, respectively, the final text of Resolution No. 2 (art. 8) and of the Action Plan (Sub-theme 3, art. 20).

Links

1. EUMAP’s submission to the Kiev conference
2. Council of Europe’s page on Kiev conference, including adopted texts
3. Speech Brankica Petkovic on behalf of the NGO Forum: Cultural diversity and media pluralism in times of globalisation
4. Links to a further speech, interviews and blog items from the angle of NGO participation, on the OL/MCM website

Background note:

In collaboration with OSI’s Network Media Program (NMP), EUMAP is presently monitoring media regulation, policy and independence in 20 European countries. The title of the project is “TV across Europe: regulation, policy and independence”. The monitoring will result in a series of upcoming reports examining the evolution of media policy in a recomposing Europe. The goal of the research is to address recommendations to decision-makers, civil society and media professionals, on how to foster broadcasting models which fit into the seminal process of European integration and serve to advance democracy in an enlarged (and enlarging) Union. EUMAP’s monitoring focuses mainly on television as the dominant mass medium. Television is considered the most influential medium, and therefore the most important in terms of its impact on citizens and on the political process.

For further information on this project please see www.eumap.org/topics/media or contact Marius Dragomir at mdragomir@osieurope.org or Miriam Anati at manati@osieurope.org .