ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 24 media freedom and journalist organisations have written to Ursula von der Leyen congratulating her on her re-appointment as President of the European Commission, and urging her to ensure that media freedom, the protection of journalists, and EU citizens’ access to public interest journalism remain political priorities for the new Commission.
The 2019-2024 Commission took important steps to address media freedom and protection of journalists. It’s essential that the new Commission builds on this legacy and supports long-term solutions to strengthen media freedom, pluralism and independence, as well as the sustainability and competitiveness of the media sector in Europe.
The signatories have called for the re-appointment of a Vice-President of the Commission with a clear mandate to promote press freedom and safety of journalists.
The Vice-President should have a sufficiently robust and far-ranging mandate to address the following:
- Reinforce DG Connect to ensure it has sufficient resources to maintain media freedom as a political priority for the European Commission
- Make EU media law a reality by ensuring the ambitious enforcement of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) to promote media independence, support public service media, build financial sustainability of the media, and strengthen the effectiveness of the European Board of Media Services
- Advance the safety of journalists by conducting an ambitious review the Safety of Journalists Recommendation 2021 to support Member States’ efforts to improve the safety of journalists; and working with the press freedom community to provide support and guidance to all Member States on issues relating to strengthening safety of journalists (including the implementation of anti-SLAPPs Directive)
- Strengthen the plurality of media providers and ensure media sustainability online and offline, through mechanisms within the Digital Services Act and EMFA to support the position of European journalism in the digital environment, and in the face of growing influence of online platforms and artificial intelligence
- Strengthen the EU’s action on the rule of law by making use of the conditionality regime, making EU funds conditional when violations of media freedom in Member States breach the rule of law and EU treaty values; and further strengthening the dialogue around the Rule of Law Mechanism to scrutinise measures taken by Member States