EU takes new approach in support to media freedom and media integrity in enlargement countries

Having noticed that the media sector was among those to suffer the most from the economic crisis in the Western Balkans as it has been estimated that the drop in commercial advertisement was around 40%, European Commission underlines that this “significantly weakened the financial positions of the media and acted as a catalyst to bring to the surface diverse mechanisms used to exercise formal and informal pressure against critical media by political and business circles”.

Due to the alarming deterioration of the situation, freedom of expression has become a high-priority in the enlargement process, the Commission said in the guidelines. This is why the Commission committed itself to develop a long term (2014-2020) assistance approach which will be supported by a results` framework to back achieving the political goals in the fields of freedom of expression and integrity of media.

Planned activities will address three areas: (1) enabling environment and resulting responsibilities of main actors, (2) advancing media to a modern level of internal governance, and (3) increasing capacity and representativeness of journalist professional organisations.

Inaccessible records on media ownership, the so-called “state advertising”, government-controlled Public Service Media, the overall poor state of journalists, including undeclared work and bad contracts, as well as the absence of effective professional self-regulation are among the major issues European Commission is willing to tackle.

“All employees (including part-time and freelancers) at an outlet should be covered by proper work contracts that would clearly demonstrate that there is no room for self-censorship triggered by poor labour relations. Opportunities for developing professional skills of journalists need to be present; especially in the view of learning to act in the currently changing media environment. All in all, these initiatives depend on the commitment of media owners and editors to professional, socially relevant journalism,” the Commission said in the document.

The media sector has showed inability to exercise solidarity, while media professionals are often not capable to overcome their political divides and affiliations, which represents a serious obstacle for agreeing on common interests such is labour standard and self-regulation.

The guidelines apply by March 2014 and should become the part of the IPA strategies. Both state authorities and media organisations and professionals are expected to work on improving the situation.

The Commission will offer a combination of political and financial support to meet the specified priorities in this area. In its political support the Commission will encourage enlargement countries to make legislation more supportive of the media. The financial assistance will use an appropriate mix of funding instruments to respond to different types of needs and country contexts in a flexible, transparent, cost-effective and results focused manner. “This will include: aiming for longer term contracts, recognising that capacity building and advocacy work requires time and resources; moving away from project based support to a more flexible approach that fosters partnership and coalition building,” the guidelines state.

In order to improve the overall situation, the approach to assist the media will be moved away from the project based assistance, the document states. However, EU’s goal is not to replace the international donors who are slowly withdrawing from the region, but to decrease media’s dependence on this type of funding resources, the document underlines.

http://tacso.org/doc/ELARG%20Guidelines%20for%20media%20freedom%20and%20integrity_26032014.pdf