European Initiative for Media Pluralism

The European Initiative for Media Pluralism promotes the idea that European institutions should safeguard the right to independent and pluralistic information as sanctioned by the European Charter on Human Rights.

The situation of media freedom and pluralism in the European Union is worsening. Some countries, notably Hungary, suffer significant interference of political power aiming to control and direct the media. Some, notably the UK, suffer from problems of excessive concentration leading to undue influence of certain economic groups, notably Murdoch’s media empire, over political processes. Others, as the case particularly in Italy, Bulgaria, and to some extent Romania, experience a dangerous overlap of economical, media, and political interests in the hands of the same persons.

But without free, independent, and pluralistic media citizens are deprived of the possibility to keep power accountable. Corruption and maladimistration prosper, personal business and political interest replace the common good of all, minorities face increasing marginalisation. The deterioration of media pluralism and media freedom in Europe is above all a threat to democracy.

A Europe-wide civil society initiative to push for a stronger role for European institutions in safeguarding and protecting the independence and pluralism of the media is long overdue.

The European Initiative for Media Pluralism, bringing together nearly one hundred organisations, media, and professional bodies from throughout the continent, comes to fill this gap.

The Initiative has just launched a European Citizens Initiative, a new tool of transnational participatory democracy allowing at least one million citizens in at least 7 EU member states to present directly to the European Commission a legislative proposal.

We demand of the European Commission to draft a Directive for the protection of media pluralism. In particular, we demand: a) effective legislation to avoid concentration of ownership in the media and advertisement sectors; b) guaranteed independence of supervisory bodies from political power; c) definition of conflict of interests to avoid media moguls occupying high political office; d) clearer European monitoring systems to check up regularly the health and independence of the media in member states.

For this we need to reach the crucial figure of one million signatures, a number which will allow the Initiative and all citizens participating in the campaign to open a legislative process at EU level.

 Signing up is easy and can be done online.

Join us, and stand up for your rights!

European Community Radio Conference, May 16-19

AMARC Europe Conference: TRANSRADIO

Community radios of 18 European countries in Montpellier (France)

 

 

Over 100 people (50 radios from 18 countries) and many European and non- European radio personalities.

 

From May 16 to 19, 2013, community radio stations from all over Europe will meet to share their experiences, pursue their development and assure their values.

The main theme of the meeting is "Transradio". At the heart of the debates, the transversal and inclusive role of community radios, their transnational development all over the continent and the southern shore of the Mediterranean basin, their ability to evolve in line with the social and technological current changes, their capacity to break the stereotypes in order to create new radio formats and meet the social demand.

 

The Conference is organized by AMARC Europe (World Association of Community Radio Broadcaster- Europe, 220 members) and the FRANC-LR (35 radio broadcasters in Languedoc-Roussillon) at the Hôtel de Région Languedoc-Roussillon (Montpellier-France).

More information:

http://www.franclr.fr/

http://www2.amarc.org/?q=fr/node/1305

 

Call for Interest in Global Forum for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy

UNESCO and its partners call on all organisations working in the field of media and information Literacy (MIL) to express interest in the Global Forum for Partnership on MIL (GFPMIL).

If your organisation is an NGO, CBO, association, network, training/academic institution, media organisation, regulatory body (such as broadcasting commission), library or other information provider, public or private entity, research institution and is involved in MIL related activities (information literacy, media literacy, digital literacy, news literacy, film literacy etc.), whether online of off line, then this call is relevant to you.


UNESCO is approaching 40 years of experience in Media and Information Literacy. It will launch the Global Forum for Partnership on MIL (GFPMIL) on 26-28 June 2013, in Nigeria, during the Pan-African MIL and Intercultural Dialogue Conference. As a joint initiative of UNESCO and other key stakeholders, the GFPMIL will be a focused, purposeful and permanent mechanism that seeks to globally reposition MIL around the core objectives of:

Articulating key strategic partnerships to drive MIL development and impact globally;

Enabling the MIL community to speak as one voice on certain critical matters, particularly as it relates to policies; and

further deepening the strategy for MIL to be treated as a composite concept by providing a common platform for MIL related networks and associations globally.

Click to complete very brief survey. It will take ten minutes and should be completed by 15 April 2013. Please feel to share this call among your networks.

High Level Seminar on Media Coverage of Migration held in Paris

On January 25th over 35 editors in chief, journalists, media and migration experts from 27 countries convened in Paris for a high level seminar organized by the UNAOC Media and Migration Programs, in partnership with the Global Editor’s Network and with the support of the Gulbelkian Foundation to discuss challenges, best practices and opportunities in the media coverage of migration. “For institutions like the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations that see the role of media in shaping public opinions and behaviors as crucial, it is timely to create a platform to further dialogue with media professionals on the issue of migration” says UNAOC High Representative President Jorge Sampaio. “Identifying challenges and best practices in the coverage of migration will help provide opportunities to counter misrepresentation and misinformation of migrants that feed mistrust and leads to a social malaise within societies”. Among the editors and journalists are included representatives from the BBC (UK), El Mundo (Spain), Corriere della sera (Italy), NZZ (Switzerland), derStandard.de (Austria), Komsomolskaya Pravda (Russia), Maariv (Israel) and Al Ahram (Egypt) among others.   Experts from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Ethical Journalism Network, the Panos Institute, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the Office of the High Commissioner for High Rights among others will also intervene to conduct informative sessions around migration.  A toolkit on media coverage of migration best practices will also be produced by a group of journalism students from the University of Missouri School of Jouranlism to be released in the spring. The UNAOC will present the recommendations of the seminar on the occasion of its annual Forum, in February 2013 in Vienna. For more information : Anne Grobet, Migration Program Manager anneg@unops.org Stephanie Durand, Strategic Media Partnerships Manager stephanied@unops.org

"Why Poverty?" Film Series Raises Questions on Poverty

 "Why Poverty?" is a project that uses film to get people talking about poverty. The series includes eight documentaries from award-winning film makers and 30 shorts from new and emerging talents, now available online at www.whypoverty.net.

The films were shown around the world in November 2012 on more than 70 national broadcasters. The documentaries are now all free to view online. They will be available on DVD and in languages other than English soon, as well as educational resources to help people use them as teaching tools.

 More information on the SIGNIS website

Plural+ Youth Video Festival 2013 - call for entries

New York, NY (January 23, 2013)-- The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations ( UNAOC) and the International Organization for Migration ( IOM) again invite the world’s youth to submit original and creative videos focusing on PLURAL+ themes: migration, diversity and social inclusion.

Recognizing youth as powerful agents of social change in a world often characterized by intolerance, and cultural and religious divisions, PLURAL+ invites youth to address key challenges related to migrant integration, inclusiveness, identity, diversity, human rights and social cohesiveness, both at local and global levels.  Young people up to 25 years old are invited to submit short videos of five minutes maximum in length.

PLURAL+ supports young people’s expression of their opinions by providing them with a variety of media platforms and distribution networks, including broadcasts, video festivals, conferences and events around the world.  PLURAL+ also reinforces the firm belief of IOM and UNAOC that youth are powerful and creative agents of social change.

A prestigious international jury will select three winners in each age categories (9-12, 13-17, and 18-25).  All the winners will be invited to New York, all travel expenses paid, to present their work at the PLURAL + 2013 Awards Ceremony at the Paley Center for Media in December 2013.

SIGNIS will choose 1 video and award it with a diploma, a medal, and inclusion in the programme of the Spiritual Cinema Week – Barcelona (October/November 2012)

PLURAL+ 2013 deadline for video submission is 30 June, 2013.  

Early submissions are encouraged.   Further information, including guidelines, regulations, awards, and the entry form

can be found at the PLURAL+ website at: www.unaoc.org/pluralplus

Pluralism and Freedom of the Media in Europe

Media pluralism is currently the focus of unprecedented attention in the European Union (EU). An EU High-Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism reported on January 21st  to Vice President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes, with recommendations for strengthening “pluralism and freedom of the media in Europe.” 

Meanwhile, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs—known as LIBE—is preparing a report on media standard-setting in the EU, which calls for the Commission and the member states to “respect, guarantee, protect and promote the fundamental right to freedom of expression and information.”

Drawing on the extensive findings of the Mapping Digital Media research into digitization and new media, the Open Society Media Program submitted reports to the High-Level Group and LIBE.

Transparency of Media Ownership in Europe: A report for the High-Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism (in conjunction with www.access-info.org)

Mapping Digital Media in the European Union: A report for the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source: Open Society Foundations