Closing remarks

Commissioner Vera Jourová, Commissioner for Values and Transparency

In her closing remarks, Commissioner Vera Jourová, Commissioner for Values and Transparency, emphasised the crucial role journalists play in democracy, including beyond the European Union. Recalling that the first session of the European News Media Forum in March 2021 had discussed the safety of journalists, she reiterated the message from that Forum: no journalist should die or be harmed for doing their job.

She is following up with Member States on the conclusions of that Forum, in particular with a series of measures to guarantee journalists’ safety, with a specific focus on the safety of women journalists and those belonging to minorities, including through the creation of independent national support services. These should include helplines, legal advice, psychological support and shelters for journalists and media professionals under threat. In parallel, the Commission is preparing a proposal to help fight abusive litigation against journalists and rights defenders, the so-called SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation). This piece of legislation will likely be put forward in early 2021.

Picking up on Commissioner Breton’s remarks on the forthcoming proposal for a Media Freedom Act, Commissioner Jourová also stressed the importance of rules based on common principles, such as editorial independence and transparent ownership, in order to counter the many attempts by governments to interfere in media, undermine their independence and therefore distort the market. With the Media Freedom Act, the Commission wants to address problems and at the same time support what works.

Turning finally to the digital transformation of the media sector, and in particular the Commission’s Media and Audiovisual Action Plan adopted in late 2020, she underlined the support this will give to the objective of a strong and diverse media sector. As she recalled, the Creative Europe programme

will allocate at least EUR 75 million to media freedom and pluralism projects between 2021 and 2027.

The Commission is also working on two other initiatives. One is how to create more financing opportunities that fit the needs of news media and potential investors better than the existing EU investment instruments, starting with a new equity pilot project in collaboration with philanthropic foundations. This should be up and running in 2022.

Journalism partnerships are another initiative. These aim to tap the diversity of models across Europe, where linguistic diversity has often meant that media companies have followed separate development paths specific to their national contexts. EUR 8 million has been allocated to help news media professionals share their innovations across borders, test collaborations and transform their businesses.

The European Newsroom, already mentioned in the opening speech, pursues the same spirit of

cooperation. The 16 participating agencies will set up a joint news production hub in Brussels to cover EU affairs and produce content in 15 languages.

Her key takeaways were that European cooperation can open the way to innovation, and to successful and resilient business models, and that the EU’s common values are the basis for this work. Second, a sound financial model is the best guarantee of independent reporting and media pluralism. In that context, the Commission will do its best to help media play its essential role for democracy.