Print
See related documents
Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 13950 | 25 January 2016
Increasing transparency of media ownership
1. The Committee of
Ministers has noted with interest Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2074 (2015)
on “Increasing transparency of media ownership”. It has received
comments on the recommendation from the Steering Committee on Media
and Information Society (CDMSI) and from the European Audiovisual
Observatory of the Council of Europe.
2. The Committee of Ministers considers media pluralism and transparency
of media ownership to be basic requirements for a viable media system
and a healthy media environment. It agrees with the Parliamentary Assembly
that knowledge about ownership relationships in the media field
enables the public to critically evaluate the information and opinions
circulated. Increasing transparency of media ownership is all the
more desirable in a rapidly changing media environment where traditional
media compete with new media services, intermediaries, aggregators,
search engines and telecommunications operators. For this reason,
the Committee of Ministers considers that the Council of Europe
standards in this field should be updated and further developed,
while taking account of its Recommendations No. R(94)13 on measures
to promote media transparency and CM/Rec(2007)2 on media pluralism
and diversity of media content. For the next budgetary biennium
(2016-2017), it has entrusted the CDMSI with the preparation of
a draft recommendation to member States on media pluralism and transparency
of media ownership.
3. The Committee of Ministers welcomes the importance attributed
by the Assembly to the MAVISE database, which is an invaluable source
of information about the European media landscape. The Committee notes
that the European Audiovisual Observatory for its Action Plan 2016
will propose to its governing board, the Executive Council, to improve
the data collection in MAVISE along the lines suggested in the Assembly’s recommendation.
4. The Committee of Ministers considers it important to co-operate
with other organisations, such as the European Union, in the field
of media pluralism and transparency of media ownership. The Committee considers
that the European Platform for Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) would
be a good partner for the exchange of information, cases and best
practices. Therefore, it supports further co-operation in particular
on the topic of transparency of media ownership.
5. The Committee of Ministers recalls that the Council of Europe
is promoting media pluralism and transparency of media ownership
through its co-operation activities as well as in the context of
other technical assistance activities.
6. Finally, the Committee of Ministers agrees with the Parliamentary
Assembly that it would be a welcome measure if associations of media
outlets would set up ethical standards on transparency of media
ownership.