Presentation by Anna Herold at the 2019 CMPF Summer School for Journalists and Media Practitioners - Covering Political Campaigns in the Age of Data, Algorithms & Artificial Intelligence

1. Strengthening news media in
the digital era: the EU approach
Anna Herold
Head, Audiovisual and Media Policy
European Commission
European University Institute
Florence, 24 June 2019

2. News media in a technologically
evolving landscape
Opportunities of technological innovation:
•(i) New tools to gather, share and analyse information
•(ii) New methods of journalistic cooperation
•(iii) Automated/ “robot” journalism
•(iv) Impact of artificial intelligence
Challenges:
•(i) understanding not only the sociological effects of
technology i.e. artificial intelligence on journalism but also
their impact on media pluralism
•(ii) tackling the phenomenon of disinformation online

3. Commission actions to support news media
  Member States retain significant responsibility
for regulating their media landscapes
  Commission’s approach:
• 1) Legislation: audiovisual, maybe more?
• 2) Financing projects
• 3) Facilitating action at MS and EU levels

4. Future-oriented EU media legal framework
 AVMSD:
- establishes a level playing field between
traditional audiovisual players and platforms
- requires Member States to establish
independence of regulators
•- enhances transparency of media ownership
•- requires MS and platforms to support media
literacy
 Copyright Directive
 Whistleblower Protection Directive

5. Projects supporting quality journalism,
media freedom & pluralism (i)
  Commission is financing projects providing legal and
practical support to journalists under threat,
monitoring violations to media pluralism and freedom,
analysing trends, conducting awareness raising
campaigns
  Monitoring media pluralism in the digital era is
essential to evaluate the current - and future - trends and
issues affecting the EU media landscape

6. Projects supporting quality journalism,
media freedom & pluralism (ii)
• Examples (running in 2018)
  The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom
(ECPMF) with OBCT, SEEMO, Ossigeno, Index, IPI
• Including:
a. - #IJ4EU – a cross-border investigative journalism
scheme to support teams of journalists working on
important societal issues;
b. - MappingMediaFreedom.org

7. Projects supporting quality journalism,
media freedom & pluralism (iii)
New projects foreseen in 2019:
(i) supporting cross-border exchanges of young media
professionals;
(ii) encouraging exchanges of journalits working in
minority languages;
(iii) helping self-regulation in the press media in the
digital era
&
(iv) the Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM2020)

8. Projects supporting quality journalism,
media freedom & pluralism (iv)
Coming next (stay tuned!)
Actions to support media freedom and investigative
journalism:
- A rapid reaction mechanism,
- Funding cross-border investigative journalism,
- Supporting training, collaborative journalism, exchange
of practices, ethical standards, events…
& second year of the 4 previously mentioned projects
 resulting in 10 to 12 projects (EUR 8.125 Mio)
2020: More to come

9. How is Commission helping the media
sector to adapt to the digital era?
• - Adaptation of the Media Pluralism Monitor
(resilience to disinformation)
• - Funding for cross-border journalism
including innovative journalism
• - Support for media councils (pilot project),
helping them to adapt to the digital environment
(support to self-regulatory bodies, survey, etc.)

10. The upcoming financial period (2021-27)
- action to secure stable funding
  Proposal for a Regulation establishing the Creative
Europe Programme (2021-27), presented in May 2018;
  Includes measures to support news media and media
pluralism in the cross-sectoral strand;
  Indicative allocation: EUR 61 Mio.
  Main goal of the proposal: secure a more stable
funding for actions on media freedom, media pluralism
and media literacy

11. The upcoming financial period (2021-27)
- action to secure stable funding
 Policy goals:
 (i) Address the structural changes faced by the media
sector by promoting and monitoring a diverse and
pluralistic media environment;
 (ii) Support high media production standards by fostering
cooperation, cross-border collaborative journalism,
and quality content (e.g. supporting news media to
develop new initiatives, such as syndication networks,
pan-European collaboration);
 (iii) Promote media literacy to allow citizens to develop a
critical understanding of the media.

12. Addressing the challenge of
disinformation
  Protecting our democratic processes has been one of the
Commission’s highest priorities - particularly ahead of the
European elections
  Three major, interlinked Commission’s initiatives:
• (i) Communication on tackling online disinformation (April
2018)
• (ii) Action Plan on disinformation (December 2018)
• (iii) Elections Package (September 2018)

13. Commission’s approach to tackle
disinformation
  The Communication on tackling online
disinformation (April 2018) reflects the
commitment to improving access to quality and
unbiased information online.
  Commission’s approach to disinformation
seeks to be both inclusive and action-oriented
in order to achieve a speedy reduction in the
volume of fake news.

14. Code of Practice on Disinformation (i)
  Online platforms and the advertising industry have
agreed on a voluntary basis to increase online
transparency and protect citizens, especially with a
view to the EU elections in 2019.
  The Code includes commitments aim at:
• 1. Improving scrutiny of ad placements and disrupting advertising
revenues to accounts and websites that spread disinformation;
• 2. Improving transparency of political advertising and issue- based
advertising;
• 3. Addressing the issue of fake accounts and online bots and;
• 4. Empowering consumers and researchers

15. Code of Practice on Disinformation (ii)
  Action Plan against Disinformation (December 2018) assigned
to the European Commission, with the help of ERGA, the task to
monitor the implementation of the Code.
• Two phases:
• Before the European elections: intensive targeted monitoring
of the implementation of the Code of to ensure that policies with
particular pertinence to electoral processes were in place ahead of
the European elections.
• By the end of 2019: overall assessment of the Code.

16. Monitoring implementation of the
Code of Practice
  Commission Report on the implementation of the
Action Plan Against Discrimination (14 June 2019)
provides a first assessment of the progress achieved.
  The preliminary analysis shows that the coordinated
European approach contributed to expose disinformation
attempts while guaranteeing freedom of expression.

17. Monitoring implementation of the
Code of Practice – support from ERGA
  ERGA has supported the Commission in the targeted
monitoring, particularly in the area of political and issue-based
advertising.
  ERGA Report with the results of its monitoring was adopted last
week during ERGA plenary.
  ERGA Report recognises the progress achieved by the platforms
but points to lack of raw data (access to advertising
database) to ensure comprehensive monitoring
• - ERGA will continue its expert support to the Commission over
2019 (in the overall evaluation of the Code)

18. The Elections Package (September 2018)
  European election cooperation network
  Recommendations on:
• transparency: guaranteeing the transparency ofonline
political advertising;
• data protection: implementing the protection of personal
data in the electoral context;
• cybersecurity: protecting against cyber attacks legislation:
rules that apply offline should apply online;
• appropriate sanctions: guaranteeing that electoral rules
are respected by all.

19. Increased attention to fact-checking
  The International Fact-Checking Network
(IFCN):
• creation of a European branch of independent
fact-checkers and launching a website that
focused on fact-checking in the context of the
European elections

20. Next steps towards disinformation
  Overall assessment of the Code of Practice
(autumn)
  Deployment of a new digital service
infrastructure for the establishment of a
European Platform on Disinformation
  Investing in new technologies
  Increasing cybersecurity
Co-regulation?

21. Importance of media literacy
1. Media literacy enables citizens to evaluate the
credibility of information they encounter online
and to assess alternative points of view
2. New obligations for MS and platforms under
AVMSD
3. European Media Literacy Week held in March
2019 - with a series of events in Brussels and
across Europe with a focus on countering
disinformation in times of elections

22. Thank you and stay tuned!
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-
market/en/policies/media-freedom-and-pluralism
@MediaEU