TV across Europe in the news

International

The EU Observer reported on 9 June 2008 on the launch of the European Charter on Freedom of the Press, an initiative of the editor-in-chief of Stern magazine, Hans-Ulrich Joerges, EU media commissioner Viviane Reding, and other editors-in-chief of European newspapers.

The article referred extensively to the report the Open Society Institute published in March 2009, "TV across Europe: More Channels, Less Independence". The report, the Observer noted, "argued that broadcasting across Europe, particularly in the east but also in Italy, is undergoing a [..] backsliding towards overt political control," and the Commission had not held "new EU member states to account after promises concerning media freedom were made ahead of accession". Political "elites are returning to appointing partisan allies to key positions, secure in the knowledge that no penalties from the EU await them for doing so," the Observer further cited the report.

While the OSI report "described the situation in Italy as "a dark farce"," however, Ms Reding was reluctant to acknowledge such worries at the launch of the charter. She focused instead on "horror stories" from journalists from Eastern Europe, and had to be prompted by a journalist to mention Italy too.

 Headlining its report "European broadcasters face political 'counter-reformation'," the EU Observer covered the presentation of the TV across Europe Follow-up reports in Brussels on 18 March 2009: 

Broadcasting across Europe, particularly in the east but also in Italy, is undergoing a "counter-reformation" - a backsliding towards overt political control after the post-Cold War period, when leaders relaxed their grip on TV and radio, warns a new report.

"When the cold war ended, democracy was supposed to bloom," writes Jean Seaton for the Guardian on 16 February 2009, reviewing the TV Across Europe follow-up reports presented on this site. "but that has not happened. Political control of the crudest kind has repossessed television from the Urals to Umbria":

Freedom of thought, impartial information, wise exploration of the public condition - these notions have retreated, not advanced. Again and again, the report tells the same story: politicians capture regulators, broadcasting is commercialised and bastardised, news is puppetry, drama has all but disappeared.

"There are, however, chinks of hope," Seaton writes: "there is a marked improvement in the independence of broadcasting in the Czech Republic, for instance." The TV across Europe report, she praises, "lets light flood into broadcasting. Its authors and sponsors ought to be congratulated, for we need to know. Like the canary in the mine, broadcasting and the other media are an early warning system for foulness in the air."

INPUT, a global organisation of television professionals centered around a yearly screening conference, remarks on the publication of "Complete Reports on Public Service Broadcasting in Europe by the OSI", 18 February 2009.

The Prague Post writes about “tough times” in the newspaper business. As news publishing in Western countries moves online, newspapers in the former Eastern bloc struggle to establish and preserve press freedom. The Czech Republic has been more respectful of press freedoms than Slovakia, where “a restrictive new law threatens to handcuff reporters and editors”. However, citing the upcoming follow-up report on the Czech Republic by EUMAP, the Post writes that the Czech Republic faces a similar politicisation, especially on public service television. “Five new members of the [Czech TV] board are political appointees, and quite open about their political loyalties,” the Prague Post writes.

In an article about the press in Central and Eastern Europe on 24 April 2008, The Economist cites the upcoming report on Slovakia and quotes the Media Program's reports editor Marius Dragomir in the course of arguing that “tough laws and interfering politicians are shrinking media freedom” in several countries. The article talks about “worrisome” arbitrary legal constraints on press freedom, the role of powerful, politically active media tycoons, and the "perceived politicisation of public broadcasting".

Bulgaria

The Bulgarian business weekly Capital published an analysis of the national broadcasting market on 25 April 2008. Drawing heavily on the research and findings of the EUMAP and NMP follow-up report, the article emphasizes one of the report’s recommendations, namely on merging the two existing regulatory bodies (for content and the frequency spectrum) into a single broadcast regulator.

In covering the Follow-up Report, the Bulgarian daily Dnevnik highlighted several of its recommendations on 21 April 2008: that there should be one body in charge of the electronic communications market; that the fund for radio and television (which was supposed to finance the public service broadcasters, BNT and BNR, but never started working) should be abolished and replaced by the State budget; and that funding of the public media should be supervised by an independent body. Dnevnik also mentioned two of the report's conclusions: that the media market is influenced by the owners' other interests, which often hurt the independence of journalists, especially in small settlements; and that the lack of ownership transparency affects the economic and political independence of radio and TV operators.

Another Bulgarian daily, Trud, cited figures from the Follow-up Report on 23 April 2008 which show that BNT's popularity is declining; in particular, the audience of BNT’s first channel fell from 25 per cent in 2003 to 13.3 per cent in 2007. Spending of State funding for BNT and BNR is not transparent. Private TV stations should be given the opportunity to apply for funds to produce public service programmes, and the two regulatory bodies (CEM and CRC) should be converged, Trud wrote, citing the report’s recommendations.

Czech Republic

"Politici hledají cestu na obrazovku přes televizní radní, tvrdí studie", iDnes.cz, 17 February 2009

Citing the Television across Europe 2008 report on 20 October 2008, Czech Business Weekly warns about the lack of competition in Czech broadcasting, arguing that digitisation will finally force the big players in the TV industry to face fresh competitors. "This would be encouraging for an industry that has had a history of being a closed market complete with a fair share of legislative nightmares,” says the newspaper.

Lithuania 

2009 kovo mėn. 24d.
AVI: Europos transliuotojams gresia politikų kontrolė

"Europos transliuotojams gresia politikų kontrolė, - tai tvirtinama Atviros visuomenės instituto Briuselyje pristatytame dokumente. [..]"

In its 13-19 June 2008 issue, the widely respected political weekly Atgimimas in Lithuania devoted an in-depth article to the situation of broadcasting in Lithuania, based on the conclusions of the Lithuania report in TV across Europe: Follow-up Reports 2008 series. The article states that Lithuanian Radio and Television (LRT) is not following its mission and its supervisory body, the LRT Council, is not performing its functions. "The public service television is sacrificing quality for the interests of advertisers," Atgimimas writes.

Link: Atgimimas (registration required)

Macedonia

MTV1 report (VIDEO: Macedonian): Broadcast on 3 November 2008

MTV2 report (VIDEO: Albanian): Broadcast on 3 November 2008

Kanal 5

Makfax

Alsat-M TV

Dnevnik

Utrinski Vesnik

Montenegro

Vijesti

Romania

An increasing number of TV stations appeared in Romania, but if you know the four main players, that's all about Romanian TV stations, wrote the largest Romanian news portal Hotnews.ro on 18 April 2008, citing the OSI follow-up report on Romania.

The commercial TV stations have been losing audience. The private TV sector is dominated by four big names: two foreign and two domestic investors. The news on the public service TV station has worryingly lost audience and has continued to be heavily politicised, the portal wrote, citing some of the findings of the OSI's report on Romania.

The Romanian daily newspaper Cotidianul wrote, on 19 April 2008: "The Romanian audiovisual sector is a playfield for the media moguls". The newspaper said that Parliament did not show any transparency in its work on the audiovisual legislation.

The Romanian all-news TV station Realitatea TV, citing the same OSI report, informed its viewers on 19 April 2008 that the Romanian TV market has fared worse and worse in terms of diversity and pluralism.

Other coverage:

"Open Society Institute: Audiovizualul romanesc ramane la mana mogulilor", 9 AM, 20 May 2008

"Studiu privind televiziunea în Europa", Radio România Actualităţi, 19 May 2008

Slovakia

#12 "Politici verzus novinári", Markíza Televízne noviny: Broadcast on 12 February 2009 (video - in Slovak)

"Prezentácia vybraných politických subjektov a predstaviteľov", 24hod.sk, 13 February 2009

"Médiá na Slovensku: Problémom zostáva zasahovanie politikov", eTREND - Mediálne, 13 February 2009

"NOS a Memo 98: Návrat do minulosti? Politický tlak na slovenské médiá rastie", eTREND - Mediálne, 12 February 2009

"Politický tlak na médiá rastie, tvrdí NOS a Memo 98", Topky.sk, 12 February 2009

Turkey

Link: "Açık Toplum Enstitüsü’nden medya politikaları konusunda iki yeni kaynak", MedyaKronik, 7 May 2008.