There is "considerable risk," warns a new report adopted by the EU's Culture and Education Committee, that private media's pursuit of profit could compromise its ability to act as a watchdog for democracy.

Drafted by Estonian MEP Marianne Mikko, the report's main recommendation is that the European Commission and EU member states apply competition law to the media to ensure media pluralism.

The report also advocates "editorial charters" which would ensure a clear separation between the editorial and business side of media outlets and prevent owners, shareholders or governments from interfering with editorial content, and ombudsmen to protect media freedom.

"The report is about the safeguarding of democracy," said Mikko. "There needs to be a way to assure pluralism of media channels and assure the balance between quantity and quality in the media market."

"Unfortunately that's not the case in EU 27 [member states], " she said.

The deputies also call for clarification on the status of weblogs and suggest introducing fees for commercial use of user-generated content. The fees, they argue, would protect professional photographers and journalists from being undersold by "poorly produced content." "In this way, producers or publishers would choose which content to purchase - professional or amateur - not based on which was cheapest," reported the EUobserver, "but which was of the highest quality."

The report, which has no legal weight, but offers political guidance to Europe's executive institutions, was adopted with 33 votes for, and one against. The European Commission has also launched an independent study on indicators of media pluralism in member states.


Sources: European Journalism Centre, NUJ Brussels