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Resolution 2143 (2017)
Online media and journalism: challenges and accountability
1. The Parliamentary Assembly acknowledges
the radical changes in the media landscape resulting from the convergence
of traditional media with the internet and mobile telecommunications,
as well as from new forms of media, such as user-generated internet
platforms and tools for the automatic aggregation of third-party content.
Within this new context, the reader or viewer becomes an active
stakeholder in the information chain by not only selecting information,
but also, in many cases, by producing it. While in the past journalists
and editors had the ability to control the public dissemination
of information, new online media offer everybody the possibility
to disseminate information and views to the public. These new tools
thus allow individuals to bypass traditional media and thereby create
more media pluralism, for example through investigative media blogs.
2. The new media landscape is also impacting on the media’s finances.
Whereas subscriptions used to be a solid source of income, free
access to internet media has reduced the willingness of users to
pay subscription fees. Likewise, advertising revenue has shifted
from advertising in print media or broadcasting to targeted internet
advertising which uses the profiled personal data of internet users.
In the wake of this shift in resources from media outlets to internet
service providers and social media, the Assembly is very concerned
about the weakening of professional media as well as by an exponential
growth in internet media which do not adhere to professional standards
of journalism.
3. The Assembly wishes to emphasise in this context the special
responsibility of public broadcasters to adequately reflect the
entire range of views present in society, and recalls Committee
of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)1 on public service media
governance. Since public broadcasters are increasingly involved
in the online media market, they could be instrumental in achieving
the goals of the present resolution.
4. Online media have enabled the public to become aware of human
rights violations and human suffering in places far away that attract
little media attention. On the other hand, the internet has enabled
powerful commercial stakeholders and political groups to launch
concerted action by huge numbers of users of online media. Facts
and correct information are not necessarily the backbone of such
activities.
5. As is constantly stressed by the European Court of Human Rights
in its case law, the press plays a vital role in a democratic society
by imparting information on matters of public interest. It acts
as a “public watchdog”, allowing the public to discover, and form
opinions about, the attitudes and actions of political figures.
6. The line between what could be considered a legitimate expression
of personal views in an attempt to persuade readers and disinformation
or manipulation is frequently crossed. The Assembly notes with concern the
number of online media campaigns designed to misguide sectors of
the public through intentionally biased or false information, hate
campaigns against individuals and also personal attacks, often in
a political context, with the objective of harming democratic political
processes.
7. The Assembly welcomes the fact that prominent online media
have established a policy whereby users can identify factual errors
or false posts by third parties on their websites, such as on Facebook
News Feed or through Google’s “webpage removal request tool”. Credibility
and reliability of online media require that they remove or correct
false information.
8. The Assembly stresses the importance of the case law of the
European Court of Human Rights and especially of its Grand Chamber
judgment in the case of Delfi AS v. Estonia (Application
No. 64569/09). This landmark decision has clarified the duties and
responsibilities of internet news portals when they provide, on
a commercial basis, a platform for user-generated comments on previously
published content.
9. Recalling Resolution
1843 (2011) on the protection of privacy and personal
data on the Internet and online media, the Assembly notes with satisfaction
that national courts in Europe have ordered internet search engines
to remove pejorative words from their auto-complete function when
searching for the names of individuals. This “right to be forgotten”
or the right to erase personal data on online media should be strengthened
throughout Europe.
10. Welcoming Brazilian Law No. 12965 of 23 April 2014 on civil
rights on the internet (Marco Civil da internet), and the “Declaration
of internet rights” adopted by the Italian Parliament on 28 July
2015, the Assembly calls on parliaments to discuss online media
and journalism and to define general standards for the protection
of fundamental freedoms and rights of internet users, journalists
and online media in accordance with this resolution.
11. Referring to Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7 of the Committee
of Ministers to member States on the protection of whistle-blowers,
and recalling its own Resolution
1729 (2010) and Resolution
2060 (2015) on this subject, the Assembly reminds member
States that they should have in place a normative, institutional
and judicial framework to protect individuals who, in good faith,
report or disclose information on threats or harm to the public
interest. This is particularly relevant in the context of online
media and journalism, as the internet is one of the channels typically
used by whistle-blowers to make the public aware of wrongdoing.
12. The Assembly therefore recommends that:
12.1. the member States:
12.1.1. initiate, both at the
national level and within the Council of Europe, discussions on
norms and mechanisms required for preventing the risk of information
distortion and manipulation of public opinion, as already suggested
in Assembly Resolution
1970 (2014) “Internet and politics: the impact of new
information and communication technology on democracy”;
12.1.2. enable public service broadcasters to make full use of
the technical possibilities offered by online media, ensuring that
their internet presence complies with the same high editorial standards
as offline; in particular, public service media should exercise
the greatest editorial diligence with regard to user-generated or
third-party content published on their internet portals;
12.1.3. recognise in their law and internal practice a right of
reply or any other equivalent remedy which allows a rapid correction
of incorrect information in online and offline media;
12.1.4. ensure the traceability by law-enforcement authorities
of users of online media when they violate the law; online media
must not become a lawless zone as a result of the anonymity of users;
12.1.5. include media literacy in their school curricula and support
awareness-raising projects and targeted training programmes aimed
at promoting the critical use of online media;
12.1.6. support professional journalistic training, ranging from
higher education to lifelong learning, apprenticeships offered by
online media as well as “citizen journalism” education for the general
public;
12.1.7. which have not yet done so, sign and ratify the Convention
on Cybercrime (ETS No. 185) as well as its Additional Protocol concerning
the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed
through computer systems (ETS No. 189);
12.1.8. co-operate with online media and internet service providers
in order to set up guidelines which are inspired by the code of
conduct countering illegal hate speech online agreed upon by the
European Commission and major internet companies on 31 May 2016;
12.1.9. develop clearer rules on liability of internet site owners
for content posted by third parties, taking into account in particular
the landmark judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the
case of Delfi AS v. Estonia;
12.2. the European Federation of Journalists and the Association
of European Journalists call on their members to ensure that:
12.2.1. professional news media uphold their editorial standards
in their internet presence, including their own media content, advertising,
third-party content, as well as user-generated content such as feedback
or comments by users. All third-party content posted on the websites of
professional media falls under the editorial responsibility of these
media;
12.2.2. users of online media are informed about the possibilities
to address complaints to online journalists, their media outlet
or their professional association;
12.3. the European Internet Services Providers Association call
on its members which provide social media, search engines and news
aggregators to:
12.3.1. develop ethical quality standards
regarding their own transparency and the due diligence of their
media services. Where commercial, political or other interests might
conflict with the neutrality of these media services, the providers
of such services should be transparent about these interests; all
providers should set up self-regulatory mechanisms for monitoring
these standards and inform the public about their adherence to them;
12.3.2. empower their users to report false information to service
providers and thus make it known publicly;
12.3.3. voluntarily correct false content or publish a reply in
accordance with the right of reply or remove such false content;
they are legally obliged to co-operate in combating illegal content;
12.3.4. set up alert mechanisms against people who regularly post
insulting or inflammatory text (“trolls”), which empower users to
complain about these trolls, with a view to excluding them from their
forums;
12.4. the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance
develop self-regulatory standards to ensure that:
12.4.1. advertisers
and public relations companies identify their own internet presence
and their contributions to the internet presence of others; they
should in particular disclose to the public the person, organisation
or company by whom they are commissioned;
12.4.2. disguised advertising and lobbying are barred by professional
media on the internet as well as by providers of social media, under
their terms of service.