17 Amendments of Tadeusz ZWIEFKA related to 2017/2209(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Amendment 7 #
1. Emphasises that access to quality, free and independent information is a fundamental human right, that media pluralism is the pillar of democracy and that the media’s independence from political and economic powers and undue influences must be guaranteed accordingly;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. The independence of the press covers both public and private media; highlights in this regard the importance of ethical codes for journalists and editors; such ethical codes shall encompass the duty to verify information and sources; stresses that the dissemination of content online needs to apply the same duty of care than dissemination offline; is concerned in this regard that standards seem to be lowered in a rapidly changing online environment where quantity and promptness and clickbaits seems more important than accurateness;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recalls that the formation of public opinion is based upon a social pacrelation of trust between citizens and media professionals aimed at influencorming those in powere public for the purposes of general interest; notes with the gravest concern that the financing system for the press has collapsed, resulting in dominant media players using information to pursue political and commercial propaganda objectives,threatening media pluralism as well as the quality of information; salutes therefore the proposal of the Commission to provide news publishers with the right to authorise the reby dramatically lowering the quality of information and giving rise to phenomena such as ‘fake news’production and making available of their press publications online, in order to favour a balanced relationship with online business players and the fair share of the revenues generated by press publications online;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Underlines the crucial role of public media to provide the citizens with objective and independent media coverage, having in mind the duty to present a variety of political positions, as public media are publicly financed; stresses that public media might often be endangered with the influence of governing majority that can deprive public opinion from the access to full range of information;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Calls on the Member States to adopt or improve the existing legal provisions to guarantee transparency of formal and beneficial media ownership as well as of management, including online media, to allow for identification of possible source of control and influence, to strengthen the accountability and to ensure editorial and journalistic independence and safeguard the media’s role as public watchdog;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Notes that in the context of a weakened media landscape combined with the digital revolution, the phenomenon known as “fake news” is a rising and worrying trend, where false or highly biased information are widely disseminated for a political motive, including under the direct or indirect patronage of certain third countries; underlines its negative effects that were observed over the past couple of years, such as during the “Brexit” referendum campaign and other political events occurred in the Member States, when large numbers of citizens were influenced by this phenomenon to orientate their voting behaviour;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Is concerned about the legislative and administrative measures used in certain Member States to restrain and control the media, directly or indirectly, especially in the public media sector; stresses that the fundamental principle of editorial independence from the government and from political or commercial interests should be protected; underlines that the coverage of election campaigning should be fair, balanced, impartial and systematically monitored;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that online media pluralism, is under serious threat from thencluding in the online sphere, is under threat, especially when their ownership is excessively concentration of corporate powered; asks the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to overcome regulatory deficiencies in order to create legal clarity and consistency to ensure media freedom and prevent the abuse of theirfrom dominant position by web giantlayers;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Underlines the need to restore and promote the basic rules that govern journalism and the journalist ethics; stresses in this respect that responsibility for the information published lays both with journalists and editors; points out that while it is fairly easy to hold traditional media responsible for the possible defamation, this is not the case with so called new media
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Calls on the Member states for more social media education programmes and further actions so that the public could better distinguished between reliable information and fake news
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. UnderlinNotes that whistle-blowers arcting on reasonable ground can be a crucial resource for investigative journalism and thus contribute to an independent press; calls on the Commission therefore to provide EU-wide protection in accordance with the treaties and the Union objectives of democracy, pluralism of opinion and freedom of expression; the protection of whistle-blowers goes hand in hand with the confidentiality of their sources, however, balanced with the fundamental rights of the accused natural and legal persons;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Underlines that false accusations or misleading information can have far reaching effects for people and businesses; recalls that in the event of false accusations,those responsible should be held accountable for their action and not benefit from whistle-blower protection; stresses that any person who is defamed by inaccurate or misleading information needs to be afforded effective redress mechanisms;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Points out that, especially in the era of the Internet, one false accusation based on unchecked information can destroy whole businesses and people’s lives
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Highlights that the fight againstphenomenon of ‘fake news’, namely false news and other disinformation spread deliberately via the media, should not result in restrictingespecially via the social media, is a rising and worrying trend and the fight against ‘fake news’, should be more effective; underlines that so called freedom of ithe Internet usagecannot be an excuse for inaction; calls for the Member States and EU institutions to devote sufficient resources to tackling disinformation; is satisfi‘fake news’ and disinformation, keeping in mind that the access of the public to information must not be censored; withelcomes the work of the East StratCom Task Force and the establishment of the High Level Expert Group on fake news and online disinformation.
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Underlines the responsibility of online actors in avoiding the spread of unverified or untrue information with the sole purpose of increasing the online traffic through the use of e.g. so-called clickbait;