EMFA Article 6. Duties of media service providers

It is crucial that recipients of media services know with certainty who owns and is behind the media so that they can identify and understand potential conflicts of interest. That is a prerequisite for forming well-informed opinions and, consequently, for actively participating in a democracy. Such transparency is also an effective tool to disincentivise and thus to limit the risk of interference with editorial independence. Furthermore, it contributes to an open and fair market environment and enhances media accountability vis-à-vis the recipients of media services, ultimately contributing to the quality of media services in the internal market. It is thus necessary to introduce common information requirements for media service providers across the Union. Those requirements should include proportionate and targeted requirements that media service providers disclose relevant information on their ownership and the advertising revenues received from public authorities or entities. Such information is necessary so that the recipients of media services can understand and are able to enquire about potential conflicts of interest, including where media owners are politically exposed, as a pre-condition for their ability to assess the reliability of the information they receive. That can only be achieved if the recipients of media services have up-to-date media ownership information at their disposal in a user-friendly manner, in particular at the time they view, listen to or read media content, so that they can put the content in the right context and form the right impression of it. Thus, the disclosure of targeted media ownership information would produce benefits clearly outweighing any possible impact of the disclosure obligation on fundamental rights, including the right to private and family life and the right to protection of personal data. In that context, the measures taken by Member States under Article 30(9) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council should not be affected. The required information should be disclosed by the relevant media service providers in an electronic format, for instance on their websites, or another medium that is easily and directly accessible.

To further contribute to a high level of media ownership transparency, Member States should also entrust national regulatory authorities or bodies, or other competent authorities and bodies, with developing media ownership databases. Such databases should work as a one-stop shop allowing recipients of media services to easily check the relevant information related to a given media service provider. In view of national administrative specificities and with a view to reducing the administrative burden, Member States should have flexibility in deciding which authority or body will be in charge of developing such media ownership databases. That could be, for instance, a national regulatory authority or body, or another administrative body, which could in turn rely on the assistance of another body with relevant expertise for the fulfilment of the task.

Media integrity also requires a proactive approach to promoting editorial independence by media undertakings providing news and current affairs content, in particular by means of internal safeguards. Media service providers should adopt proportionate measures to guarantee the freedom of editors to take editorial decisions within the established long-term editorial line of the media service provider. The objective to shield editorial decisions, in particular those taken by editors-in-chief and editors, on specific pieces of content from undue interference contributes to ensuring a level playing field in the internal market for media services and the quality of such services. Those measures should aim to ensure the respect for independence standards throughout the entire editorial process within the media, including with a view to safeguarding the integrity of journalistic content. That objective is also in compliance with the fundamental right to receive and impart information under Article 11 of the Charter. In view of those considerations, media service providers should also ensure the transparency of actual or potential conflicts of interest vis-à-vis the recipients of their media services.

Media service providers should adopt internal safeguards with a view to guaranteeing the independence of editorial decisions tailored to their size, structure and needs. Commission Recommendation (EU) 2022/1634 provides a catalogue of voluntary internal safeguards that media undertakings can adopt in that regard. This Regulation should not be construed as depriving the owners of private media service providers of their prerogative to set strategic or general goals or to foster the growth and financial viability of their undertakings. In that respect, this Regulation should recognise that the goal of fostering editorial independence needs to be reconciled with the legitimate rights and interests of private media owners, such as the right to determine the editorial line of the media service provider and to shape the composition of their editorial teams.