TV Across Europe (2005): Overview
Introduction to the project's scope and results.
In 2005, the Open Society Institute's EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program (EUMAP) produced, in cooperation with the OSI's Media Program, a series of monitoring reports on TV across Europe: Regulation, policy and independence.
The reports focus on both public service broadcasting and commercial television. At 1,662 pages, the complete three-volume set of reports is the largest ever comparative survey of its kind. It consists of 20 country reports plus an overview report, which resumes the main findings across all the countries monitored.
The 20 country reports were drafted by national expert reporters in each country, with the support of partner NGOs. All country reports are based on the same methodology, thus allowing for a comparative analysis. In each country the monitoring assesses media policy and regulations established in particular to secure the political and economic independence of television across Europe. The following 20 European countries, combining EU members, candidate and potential candidate countries, were included in the monitoring:
Albania; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bulgaria; Croatia; the Czech Republic; Estonia; France; Germany; Hungary; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Poland; the Republic of Macedonia; Romania; Serbia; Slovakia; Slovenia, Turkey; and the United Kingdom.
The overview report was drafted by media experts who also edited the single country reports. It includes a comprehensive annex section, with tables of comparative data.
The country reports and the overview report include concrete recommendations to governments, international organisations and regulatory bodies aimed at ensuring that television can play its democratic role.
The complete three-volume report and a one-volume summary report was published in English. But each country report was also published in the language or languages of the country, accompanied by a translation of the regional overview. These translated volumes were presented at national launch events, in order to optimally involve national actors in media policy and promote a follow-up to the reports' recommendations.
The full text of the reports on Television across Europe: Regulation, Policy and Independence are available on this site, as are the methodology texts, the list of local experts who conducted the monitoring and the NGOs who supported them, the press releases that were issued, a selection of international media coverage of the reports and their findings, and a selection of recommended resources. You can also request hard copies of the reports by using the publication order form on the EUMAP website.
For further information please contact Marius Dragomir (mdragomir AT osieurope.org) or Miriam Anati (manati AT osieurope.org). If you are interested in being informed about future follow-up activities, please subscribe to the eumap.org Infolist
