Activities of Katerina BATZELI related to 2007/2253(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Concentration and pluralism in the media in the European Union (short presentation)
Amendments (17)
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the important role of the public audiovisual media in ensuring pluralism is recognised in the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the Amsterdam Treaty protocol on the system of public broadcasting in the Member States, which stipulates that the public media in the Member States are directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs of each society and the need to preserve media pluralism, while the Member States are responsible for determining the remit of public television broadcasting and providing for its funding,
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas the Commission communication of 2001 on the application of State aid rules to public service broadcasting fully recognises the central role played by public broadcasting bodies in promoting plurality and cultural and linguistic diversity and stresses that, in examining the State aids in question, the Commission will apply criteria such as the importance of promoting cultural diversity and meeting the democratic, social and cultural needs of each society,
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Ca (new)
Recital Ca (new)
Ca. whereas even medium-size media mergers can have a major impact on plurality, even where competition rules are complied with, if they affect the independence of authors from political and other forms of regulatory intervention on the part of the publishers and stakeholders,
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas new technologies, communications and information services should enhance media pluralism and cultural diversityand in particular the shift to digital technology for the production and dissemination of audiovisual content and the entry on the market of new communications and information services have significantly influenced the quantity of available products and means of dissemination; however a quantitative increase in media and services does not automatically guarantee content diversity; new updated means of ensuring media pluralism and cultural diversity and the provision of prompt and objective information to the public are therefore necessary,,
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas the current telecommunications regulatory framework, reflecting the direct relationship and inter-dependence between infrastructure and content regulation, provides Member States with suitable technical instruments for the protection of media and content plurality, such as access and must-carry rules,
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the primedia mary concern of media businesses may be financial profit, media remainbe a powerful tool for the dissemination of information, exchanges of ideas and political expression; accordingly they cannot be regulated solely on financial profit criteria, which are inevitably the principal concern of private businesses ain ideological and political tool of considerable influence, which should not be treated solely on economic termsthis sector; stresses accordingly that in order to guarantee the quality and balanced dissemination of information by the public and private media in this sector, priority must be given to the criteria of information plurality, content quality and cultural diversity,
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas weblogs - a new step towards freedom of expression and information which are not covered by the concept of 'press' or 'journalism' and bring the reader into contact with the personal opinions of others - are an increasingly common medium for self-expression by media professionals as well as private persons, the status of their authoensuring the right of anonymity of website managers and those publishers, including their legal status, is neither determined nor made clearing those comments on the web, this being directly related to the freadersedom of the weblogs, causing uncertainties regarding impartiality, reliability, source protection, applicability ofought and expression; whereas, however, it is not currently clear to what extent existing ethical codes cand the assignment of liability in the event of lawsuit be applied, particularly concerning liability for defamatory or misleading observations,
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital W a (new)
Recital W a (new)
Wa. whereas the European media are now operating on a globalised market, which means that comprehensive restrictions regarding their ownership will considerably detract from their ability to compete with third-country undertakings not bound by similar restrictions; takes the view that, it is therefore necessary to strike a balance between the consistent implementation of fair competition rules and the provision of pluralist safety valves on the one hand and ensuring that businesses have the necessary flexibility to compete on the international media market on the other,
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital W b (new)
Recital W b (new)
Wb. whereas measures to consolidate and promote pluralism in the media must be fundamental to EU foreign relations (in the field of trade and elsewhere), particularly in the context of political neighbourship, enlargement strategy and bilateral partnership agreements,
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the need for the EU and Member State authorities to ensure journalistic and editorial independence by appropriate and specific legal and social guarantees as well as for the media owners to follow the best practice in each market where they operate; in this context supports the introduction of codes of ethics banning intervention by owners, stakeholders or political authorities with regard to information content;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Suggests clarifying the status, legal or otherwise, of weblogs and encourages their voluntary labelling according to the professional and financial responsibilities and interests of their authors and publishersEncourages the introduction of an ethical code of conduct for weblog self- regulation and self-monitoring regarding misleading and defamatory comment and voluntary disclosure of web managers and commentators; stresses that preventive regulatory measures must be implemented in such a way as to avoid restricting freedom of expression through internet 'censorship', which would greatly affect media and information plurality;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Stresses the particular role played by local and regional media in promoting plurality and protecting linguistic and cultural diversity on very small local markets offering no financial incentives to the large commercial media;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Recommends that the regulations governing state aid are implemented in a way allowing the public service media to fulfil its function in a dynamic environment, while avoiding abuse of public funding for reasons of political or economic expediency and unfair competition leading to impoverishment of the media landscape;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Stresses that the basic criteria for any future review of Commission guidelines regarding State subsidies for public broadcasting bodies must be guaranteed media plurality and the action to meet cultural and democratic needs of any society;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Considers that, in order to enable the public audiovisual media to fulfil their task in the era of digital technology, it is necessary for them to develop new information services and media over and above traditional programmes and to be able to interact with every digital network and platform;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)
Paragraph 13 c (new)
13c. Welcomes the implementation in certain Member States of provisions requiring cable television providers to include state-run channels and allocate a section of the digital spectrum to public providers;
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 d (new)
Paragraph 13 d (new)
13d. Takes the view that the basic criterion for review of the telecommunications regulatory framework and spectrum management should be the impact of infrastructural provisions on audiovisual service content provisions - in accordance with Directive 2007/65/EC - particularly with regard to the basic principles of media pluralism and linguistic and cultural diversity; stresses in this connection the need for compliance with access and must carry rules and possibly their extension to new digital services;