Activities of Kinga GÖNCZ related to 2011/2246(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the EU Charter: standard settings for media freedom across the EU PDF (238 KB) DOC (149 KB)
Amendments (23)
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that free and independent media are one of the foundations of democracy and the rule of law; notes the decisive role of free and independent media and the free exchange of information in supporting and strengthening already functioning democracies, as well as in the democratic transformations taking place in non- democratic regimes; calls on the Commission to abide by the principles of media freedom in Member States, closely monitor them in accession countries and support the independent media whose activities are restricted byere there are authoritarian regimes;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7
Citation 7
– having regard to its resolutions of 20 November 2002 on media concentration2 , of 4 September 2003 on the situation as regards fundamental rights in the European Union (2002)3 , of 4 September 2003 on Television without Frontiers4 , of 6 September 2005 on the application of Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 89/552/EEC (‘Television without Frontiers’), as amended by Directive 97/36/EC, for the period 2001-20025 , of 22 April 2004 on the risks of violation, in the EU and especially in Italy, of freedom of expression and information (Article 11(2) of the Charter of Fundamental6 , of 25 September 2008 on concentration and pluralism in the media in the European Union7 , of 25 November 2010 on public service broadcasting in the digital era: the future of the dual system, and of 10 March 2011 on media law in Hungary8 ,
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 a (new)
Citation 7 a (new)
– having regard to the European Initiative for Media Pluralism which has been registered by the European Commission and which aims at protecting media pluralism through partial harmonisation of national rules on media ownership and transparency, conflicts of interest with political office and independence of media supervisory authorities,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 b (new)
Citation 7 b (new)
– having regard to the Protocol on the system of public broadcasting in the Member States annexed to the TEU,
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas citizens' fundamental rights to freedom of expression and information can be guaranteed only through media freedom and pluralism, whereby journalists and the media can exercise their right and duty to inform citizens on events and decisions of public interest, and where every member of the society has a right to express her or his views in a democratic and peaceful way;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas NGOs, associations monitoring media freedom, the Council of Europe and OSCE, as well as EP studies and resolutions, have reported on and warned against the threats posed to the free and independent media by governments, including in the European Union11 ;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes the dynamic changes in the media world that are redefining the arena of information exchange; draws attention towelcomes the fact that the development of the Internet is opening possibilities for unrestricted, individual expression by citizens of EU Member States and other countries; draws attention to the fact that all this does not reduce governments’ responsibility to guarantee the conditions for free and independent media to operate;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas this approach was unfortunately discontinued by the Commission, as neither the Communication, nor the public consultation were ever launched;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas Member States have a duty to protect freedom of opinion, expression, information and the media, as these principles are also guaranteed in their constitutions and laws, and also to provide citizens with fair and equal access to different sources of information and thus to differing viewpoints and opinions; whereas, should these freedoms be placed at serious risk or violated in a Member State, the European Union must intervene on the basis oftimely and effectively on the basis of its competencies enshrined in the Treaties and ofin the Charter to protect the European democratic and pluralistic order and fundamental rights;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas concerns arise in relation to the challenges facingand pressure facing the media and public service broadcasters especially in terms of editorial independence, staff recruitment, pluralism, neutrality and quality of information, access and funding, caused by undue political and financial interference, as well as the economic crisis;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas the private media are faced with growing domestic but also cross- border concentration, with media conglomerates distributing their products in different countries, rising intra-EU media investments, and non-European investors and media exerting an increasing influence in Europe leading to the monopolization of information and undermining the pluralism of opinions;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for the devising ofMember States to devise procedures and mechanisms for the selection and appointment of media heads, management boards, media councils and regulatory bodies that are transparent, based on merit and indisputable experience and that ensure professionalism, integrity, independence, consensus across the political and social spectrum and continuity, instead of political or partisan criteria in the framework of a spoil system linked to the results of elections or the will of those in power; calls on the Member States to establish guarantees to provide the independence of media councils and regulatory bodies from the political influence of the government, the parliamentary majority or any other group of the society;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Recalls the important role of the public service media, funded by citizens through the State, and their institutional duties to provide high quality and accurate and reliable information; underlines the necessity to guarantee the professional independence of national news agencies; calls to ban the application of means and methods that could lead to the creation of news monopolies; stresses that the private media have similar duties in relation to information, notably of institutional and political nature, in particular on the occasion of elections, referenda, etc;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Recalls the specific and distinctive role of public service media, as stated in the Amsterdam Protocol on the system of public broadcasting in the Member States, which is directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs of each society and to the need to preserve media pluralism;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Highlights the worrying tendency in several Member States to apply undue budget cuts or to scale down the activity of public service media, which reduces their ability to fulfil their mission; urges Member States to counter this trend and ensure their stable and sustainable funding;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Recalls the importance of adapting the scope of the regulation to the specific nature of each media; underlines the importance of setting up self-regulatory bodies of the media, such as complaints commissions and ombudspersons; calls on the Commission to monitor if any legislation adopted in the Member States could lead to undermining the freedom of media and to allowing any kind of government interference in the media;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that media ownership and management should be transparent and not concentrated; calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure competition so as to address and prevent dominant positions and guarantee the access of new entrants on the market; calls on the Commission to make the impact assessment of every legislative act in the field of competition on the situation of the media; calls for rules to ensure that conflicts of interest are properly addressed and resolved; highlightcondemns that advertising and sponsoring may cause interference with the editorial line of media; calls on the Commission to monitor and on the Members States to guarantee that the state and state companies do not influence the freedom of information and expression and the pluralism of media through their advertising policies;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines the importance of ensuring the independence of journalists, both from internal pressures from editors or owners and externally from political or economic lobbies or other interest group, for instance by agreeing with media owners on codes of conduct for editorial independence, and externally from political or economic lobbies or other interest groups; draws attention to the risks of self-censorship as a result of various forms of threats and pressures on journalists; highlights the fact that the right of access to documents and information is fundamental and calls for the full protection of the confidentiality of sources principle and for the strict application of the European Court of Human Rights case-law in this area, including in relation to whistle-blowing and to protecting the right of journalists to freely choose the way of expressing their views; calls for journalists to be protected from threats and violence, as investigative journalists are often threatened as a result of their activities; highlights the need to support and promote investigative journalism also by involving European funds and to promote ethical journalism in the media by developing professional standards and appropriate redress procedures and by investment in professional training;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines the need to draw upfor rules in relation to political information in the whole audiovisual media sector in order to guarantee fair access to different political competitors, opinions and viewpoints, in particular on the occasion of elections and referenda, with a view to ensuring that citizens can form their opinions without undue influence from one dominant opinion-forming power;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Highlights that in an increasingly digital environment, public service media play an essential role in ensuring that citizens are able to access information online and form their opinion from a variety of sources;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Underlines the importance of monitoring media freedom in Europe and reporting on a yearly basis on the matter, on the basis of the detailed standards developed by the Council of Europe and the OSCE and of the risk-based analytical approach and indicators developed by the independent study drawn up for the Commission, in liaison with NGOs, stakeholders and experts; underlines the importance of making these common European standards known for the wider public; believes that the Commission, the Fundamental Rights Agency and/or the EUI Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom must carry out this task;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission to institutionalise EU-level cooperation and coordination on the media, for instance by establishing a European regulators' group for audiovisual media services, and to harmonise the status of the national regulatory authorities provided for in Articles 29 and 30 ofby amending the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), in order to ensuringe that they are independent, impartial and, transparent as regards their decision-making processes, the exercise of their powers and the monitoring process,nd act with complete independence in exercising the duties and powers entrusted to them; and that they have appropriate sanctioning powers to ensure that their decisions are implemented; calls on the Commission to monitor that the media regulatory authorities respect the requirement of necessity and proportionality while imposing sanctions;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls the Commission and the Member States to ensure transparency in media ownership and to ascertainmonitor whether public funds are used efficiently and transparently by Member States in relation to the public service media;