/Pogled.info/ The European Parliament (EP) is about to guarantee the protection of journalists from pressure and the use of any methods of eavesdropping and surveillance. The purpose of the European Media Freedom Act is not to censor or regulate the media. The goal is to loosen the grip of business and power, and create conditions for independent journalism. This was stated by Elena Yoncheva, MEP from the group of Socialists and Democrats, during the debates in the plenary hall in Strasbourg on Tuesday. She is a co-rapporteur on behalf of the Group of Socialists on the regulation, which was adopted by the EP with an overwhelming majority – 448 MEPs voted “for”, 102 were against, and 75 “abstained”.
“We propose clear measures to shed light on media ownership and their financial sources to break the vicious interdependence between media, business and politics. We are taking decisive steps against arbitrary downloading of quality media content by platforms like Facebook, Ex and Tik Tok. We are putting an end to the tendentious distribution of European funds, through which political influence is concreted in a number of countries”, Elena Yoncheva emphasized part of the main texts in the European Act.
The aim of the European law is to take measures to protect journalists. “Controlled media, pressure against journalists by ruling and business interests, merger between political power and media. This is the reality in Europe today, and the decline in trust in public and private media is logically reaching a critical point,” the MEP pointed out in the plenary hall. The legislation is the result of years of hard work and pressure, and tough negotiations with member states represented in the Council are yet to come, she said. Talks with the Vice-President of the European Commission Vera Yourova on this initiative, in which Elena Yoncheva participated, began as early as 2021. At that time, Bulgaria was in 112th place out of a total of 180 countries in the world, in terms of media freedom.
The European Media Freedom Act is a regulation, which means that when it comes into force, its texts will be applied by member states without room for interpretation. This is expected to happen in early 2024, after negotiations with the Council are concluded.
The main provisions of the regulation, supported by the European Parliament, are related to:
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Ban on the use of spyware to track and eavesdrop on journalists; prohibition of pressuring journalists to reveal their sources of information;
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Ban on online platforms such as Facebook, Ex, Tik Tok, etc. arbitrarily download quality media content;
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Monitoring at European level and in close interaction with the European Commission, but independently of it, for concentration of media ownership, for pressure on journalists, for dependence of national regulators on political power, for non-transparent financing of media – in Bulgaria and other member states ;
To contact the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the EP:
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