Activity Details (ID# 7599)

Activity Synopsis

The overall objective of the conference was to examine the situation in South-East European and new EU member countries with regard to concentration of media ownership and the problems linked to it and to recommend policy changes in the field. The specific goals were to:
• discuss problems concerning the development and implementation of regulation related to media ownership concentration at the national, European and global level, with emphasis on South-East European and new EU member countries;
• review media ownership patterns in South-East European and new EU member countries, problems of transparency, and their impact on media pluralism and independence;
• reflect on the role of international organisations, governments and parliaments, media organisations and media monitoring organisations in relation to media ownership concentration and its impact on pluralism and independence of the media in South-East European and new EU member countries;
• make recommendations on changes in media policy that may be required at the national and European level;
• encourage co-ordination of the efforts of organisations working on media ownership-related policy, regulation, monitoring and advocacy projects and their impact on media pluralism, diversity and independence.
 

The topic of the conference stimulated such great interest that the organisers were not able to accommodate everyone who had wanted to participate.

The conference was opened by the Minister of Culture of Slovenia, Ms Andreja Rihter, and by the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ms Maud De Boer-Buquicchio. In her speech, Ms De Boer-Buquicchio stressed the human rights approach of the Council of Europe in fostering pluralism of the media, whether external pluralism, namely a diversity of different media outlets, or internal, namely the expression of a variety of views and opinions within the same media outlet.

The conference brought together many professionals of the media sector as well as representatives of the European Commission and the Office of the OSCE Representative on freedom of the media. This most useful event allowed for lively discussions on a number of issues relating to media ownership concentration, such as their measurement and monitoring, the effects of media market development and privatisation, as well as the implications of the EU policy in this regard.

The South-East European Network for Professionalisation of the Media introduced their new study on media ownership and its impact on media independence and pluralism covering 18 countries. Other organisations, as well as individual researchers presented their work on the topic. Journalists and media owners were also able to offer their points of view. A great number of questions were addressed to the representatives of the European Commission and of Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), a major investor in South-European media markets. In spite of the often controversial issues, the discussions were very constructive overall and the conference achieved all of its objectives.
 

In the conclusions and recommendations of the conference, the participants stressed that competition policy in itself is not sufficient to guarantee media pluralism: it should be complemented with measures to promote media pluralism at national level, taking into account the Council of Europe recommendations (notably Recommendation R (99) 1 on measures to promote media pluralism and Recommendation R (94) 13 on measures to promote media transparency). The conclusions and recommendations are available at (http://www.coe.int/T/E/human_rights/media/7_Links/Cl_ Rec_conf_ Bled.asp - TopOfPage).

This final document also includes a set of recommendations on what needs to be done by international organisations, governments, media and NGOs in order to address the potentially harmful effects of media concentration and to promote pluralism and freedom of expression in general. The conclusions and recommendations will be used as a basis for follow-up activities in individual South-East European countries.

A website containing the presentations and other documents related to the topic of the conference http://www.mirovni-institut.si/media_ownership/conference/about.htm was set up.
 

Public officials, parliamentarians, media professionals and non-governmental organisations from South-Eastern Europe and new EU member countries, representatives of organisations working on the issue, media policy researchers with expertise in the field 

Ms Zrinjka Perusko, Institute for International Relations, Croatia 

Ms Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General
Mr Paul Dewaguet, Deputy Head of Private Office
Mr Mario Oetheimer, Media Division
Mr Ivan Nikoltchev, Media Division