Brussels tables tighter EU media laws

Media outlets across Europe face being tightly regulated by independent agencies with sweeping powers to investigate complaints and enforce fines if the recommendations of a Brussels-appointed panel become law.

The high-level group set up more than a year ago by Neelie Kroes, a European Commission vice-president, concluded that it was essential to introduce new rules to ensure journalists and media organizations act responsibly and do not abuse their power. “All EU countries should have independent media councils with a politically and culturally balanced and socially diverse membership,” says a report by the group, chaired by Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia’s former president. “Such bodies would have competences to investigate complaints [and] should have real enforcement powers, such as the imposition of fines, orders for printed or broadcast apologies, or removal of journalistic status,” it states. “The national media councils should follow a set of European-wide standards and be monitored by the commission to ensure that they comply with European values.”


Brussels tables tighter EU media laws