Activities of Niklas NIENASS related to 2021/2017(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on Europe’s Media in the Digital Decade: an Action Plan to Support Recovery and Transformation
Amendments (60)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
— having regard to Directive (EU) 2018/1808 amending Directive 2010/13/EU on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive),
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 b (new)
Citation 5 b (new)
— having regard to the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Single Market for Digital Services (Digital Services Act) and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (COM/2020/825 final),
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 c (new)
Citation 5 c (new)
— having regard to the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector (Digital Markets Act) (COM/2020/842 final),
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 d (new)
Citation 5 d (new)
— having regard to the Protocol on the system of public broadcasting in the Member States annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community (Amsterdam protocol),
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 e (new)
Citation 5 e (new)
— having regard the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the accessibility requirements for products and services of 27 March 2019,
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 f (new)
Citation 5 f (new)
— having regard to the provisions of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1 March 1998, regarding the media,
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A (new)
Recital -A (new)
-A. whereas the EU and Member States should put in place measures aiming at ensuring media is based on public values and is open, democratic, sustainable and inclusive in which more women, people from racial and ethnic minorities, migrants and refugees, as well as members of LGBTIQ+ communities and people with disabilities, occupy creative and decision-making positions;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the cCultural and cCreative sSectors, of which news and other editorial media and audiovisual sectors are an integral part, have been among the hardest hit by the fallout from COVID-19; whereas these sectors are also expected to recover at a more moderate pace than the general economy;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas, according to early estimates, news and other editorial media saw its advertising revenues drop by 20 % to 80 %; whereas media organisations face liquidity issues;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas cinemas have suffered a massive loss of revenues – €4 billion in 2020 – and are at the same time facing increased operating costs, which threatens their capacity to recover and challenges the financing and circulation of European films and culture; whereas cinemas are essential to our society, both culturally and economically; whereas 2019 was a record year for European cinemas, with over €5.8 billion at the box office and more than 830 million admissions in the EU alone; whereas in territories where cinemas have reopened, audiences are coming back in numbers similar to pre-Covid;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
B b. Whereas most EU countries are characterised by a high degree of market concentration with monopoly or oligopoly in the broadcasting sectors, oligopolies in newspaper industries and significant competition in magazine and book publishing; whereas these main players co-exist with a myriad of smaller news media operators focusing on local news or specialised in particular topics;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas quality, well-financed and independent news and other editorial media and professional journalism are an essential pillar of democracy; whereas every effort must be made to increase media pluralism3 freedom and pluralism3, and to rebalance the information ecosystem, from gatekeepers to media, strengthening autonomous revenues and media independence; _________________ 3 No EU country registers a low level of risk in the market plurality area according to ‘Monitoring Media Pluralism in the Digital Era’, p. 50:https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/ 1814/67828/MPM2020- PolicyReport.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed =y
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the audio and audiovisual sector plays a vital part in fostering the resilience of our democratic societies; whereas the heterogeneity of the sector is also one of its strengths, helping to promote and strengthen Europe’s cultural, linguistic, social and political diversity;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
D a. whereas the news media and the broadcasting sectors would each benefit from a more coherent and holistic approach; whereas the Commission announced its intention to table a Media Freedom Act; whereas this should build upon ongoing initiatives such as the Democracy Action Plan, the Media and Audiovisual Action Plan, the Digital Services Act, and the Digital Markets Act not focusing chiefly on new laws;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
D b. whereas the palette of organisations and companies in the news media sector range from freelancers such as journalists or technical staff to public broadcasters and large media conglomerates with a high degree of vertical integration, small local and regional news media outlets, and a diverse range of non-profit associations;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D c (new)
Recital D c (new)
D c. whereas the information and communication policies must take into account the accessibility of content for people with sensorial disabilities, in accordance with the different European directives;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D d (new)
Recital D d (new)
D d. whereas nowadays communication spaces are being configured based on linguistic parameters more than territorial ones;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the fallout of the economic downturn, and strongly reiterates its call on the Commission and the Member States to increase support available for the news media and audiovisual sectors, and the cCultural and cCreative sSectors more broadly; considers that allocations for the media sector should be increased across various multiannual financial framework (MFF) programmes; and the recovery and resilience plans by the Member States; considers special attention in all of the initiatives should be paid to local and regional media, in particular news and other editorial media, operating in small markets;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the launch of the ‘NEWS’ initiative for the news and other editorial media sector, including the European News Media Forum; reiterates emphatically its repeated calls for the creation of a permanent European cultural and news media fund; without a cross- border component to support critical voices in Europe, empower independent news coverage, safeguard the independence of European journalists and journalism, and guarantee the freedom of the press;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights the importance of the cross-sectoral strand in the Creative Europe programme, which for the first time provides for actions focused on the news media, under the NEWS brand, in analogy to MEDIA for film and broadcasting sectors;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Recalls that Creative Europe MEDIA should balance funding between its different strands and that “traditional” players such as cinemas remain an essential part of the sector;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Acknowledges that some parts of the audio and audiovisual ecosystem are not covered by current support measures; invites the Commission to continue exploring tailored support schemes; urges particular attention be paid in all support actions to Member States with low audio and audiovisual production capacity to content that is produced in minority languages and content produced by groups that are underrepresented in the sector, such as women, people with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ people or people from minority groups including racial and ethnic minorities;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Warns that the exceptional economic crisis facing media and the political crisis caused by the pandemic has been exploited and has the potential to be further exploited by some member state governments to misuse public subsidies or advertising budgets to punish critical media and reward pro-government coverage;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Stresses that the European Commission should also provide support, through an independent process, to media and that special focus thereby should be given to Member States where independent media face particular financial and political pressure and Member States where ongoing rule of law concerns cast doubt on the ability of the state to provide impartial support to journalism;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Believes it is crucial therefore that any recovery funds earmarked for the media and channelled through Member States be conditional on a process that guarantees fair and objective distribution in support of independent quality journalism and respects the rule of law;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Invites the Commission to conduct a study, develop guidelines and share among Member States the best practices in public financing mechanisms while reassessing the Member States’ prerogative in regards to culture and media policy and more particularly funding mechanisms in these fields;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Recalls that minority media cannot compete in the general schemes with the majority media and asks the Members States to support the production of content by national minorities and its widespread dissemination across different platforms;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Acknowledges that radio can offer a trusted source of real-time information across borders where reliable news is scarce; calls on the Commission to further ensure proper funding for the continuation of Euranet Plus’ operational activities and the extension of its membership, geographic and linguistic coverage, as well as to enable it to invest in its digital transformation and in quality products and services;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Observes that although the LUMIERE VOD database and other databases of the European Audiovisual Observatory collect abundant information on the origin of the contents of VOD platforms there is no data on presence of subtitles, sign languages, or languages used in the different media; believes that, since this data serves as a basis for the design and monitoring of European audiovisual policies, and in order also to promote accessibility for people with sensory diversity in the VOD sector this data is of key importance;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that tax policies can help recovery and resilience of these sectors; encourages Member States with adequate fiscal scope to help boost media consumption and cinema consumptadmissions through VAT rates that accommodate this, while also taking into account the differences between physical venues and digital platforms especially with regards to their respective maintenance costs;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Considers that support for strengthening independent media and media and information literacy should also be an integral part of the EU’s domestic and foreign policy;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Draws attention to the fact that the current crisis risks speeding up national news media consolidation to the detriment of media pluralism in the Union; considers that these trends are particularly unwelcome in smaller markets where the choice is already limited; asks, therefore, for the competition authorities to remain vigilant and consider the long-term impact of mergers and acquisitions not only on market share, but also on linguistic and cultural diversity; underlines that the EU should support cross-border cooperation helping smaller players to achieve a critical mass and strengthen diversity in markets entailing few independent media thus addressing challenges of fragmentation and national focus;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes with concern that global online platforms have a vast disruptive impact on the media sector, as they dominate the data and advertising market, and have radically changed audience consumption patterns; underlines that current legislation does not regulate pivotal issues in the informationonline ecosystem such as access to data, digital advertising, algorithmic transparency, platform accountability, must-show and other questions; considers that timely adoption of legislation tois concerned about the platforms’ business practices to remove or interfere with lawful content provided under a media service provider’s editorial responsibility and that is subject to specific standards and oversight; considers that using existing competition tools and timely adoption of legislation that takes cultural and linguistic diversity into account can help address these shortcomings is a matter of urgency;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Highlights the importance of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act for European media and audiovisual sectors since citizens and in particular young people increasingly access news and diverse content via third- party platforms, such as social networks and news aggregators; stresses the need to further improve the proposed Acts in order to mitigate the issues mentioned above;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9 b. Notes that media are increasingly dependent on global platforms and interfaces, some of which are vertically integrated competitors, to deliver their services to European audiences; calls upon Member states to come up with prominence regimes to ensure that media content of general interest is easy to discover and to find on third-party platforms and calls upon the Commission to develop a solid European approach to support this overall goal;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recognises the additional challenges for news and other editorial media operating in smaller markets, including local, regional and niche media, which have limited revenues, and are not viable using current commercial business models, and which cannot embrace new ones that media operating in larger markets can; believes, therefore, that public funding mechanisms based on the arm’s length principle are increasingly necessary;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Underscores that any public funding model must be independent of government, based on clear criteria that support and promote diverse, quality public interest journalism; notes that decentralisation to Member States creates risks for independence and therefore calls for community-led funding mechanisms "for the media and by the media", with independent juries under a "cascade" system;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10 b. Highlights the importance of the dual system of public and commercial media in Europe; Calls on Member States to ensure stable, transparent, sustainable and adequate funding for public service media on a multiannual basis in order to guarantee their independence from governmental, political and market pressures, to secure the diverse European media landscape, and enable them to provide a broad range of pluralistic information and diverse content; Urges the Commission to propose a Union-wide publicly funded public media service;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses that it is essential to ensure and maintain the independence of private and public service media from political interference, including from external actorany internal and external political interference, whether from governments, powerful interest groups or third countries; acknowledges the specific situation faced by Member States which are exposed to geopolitical risks arising from third country interference in their information space, including through media financing; believes that the best viable antidote is a more robust media landscape with steady revenue streams; considers increased transparency to be important, and therefore welcomes the Media Ownership Monitor initiative;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Stresses that in some Member States political parties use media as vehicles to disseminate disinformation, while in others conglomerates with a large media company use political parties to profit from politics; considers increased transparency and verification obligations as remedies to counteract these practices; welcomes initiatives such as the Media Ownership Monitor and the Media Pluralism Monitor;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11 b. Is deeply concerned about state capture of the media in some Member States, driven by media market distortions and ownership concentration and the misuse of regulatory tools to build a government dependent media sector at the expense of critical, public interest journalism; believes this must be countered by a robust Rule of Law, judicial and regulatory independence and guarantees of media pluralism;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Expresses concern about the disruptive trends created by the platforms, as they can undermine competition in the long term, and reduce opportunities for other actors; expresses concerns about the shift in the balance of power in favour of big international players that could lead to distortion of competition and predatory behaviour via unfair contractual conditions, with a resulting strong negative impact on cinema exhibition and the broader film sector; asks the Commission to monitor the situation closely and, ifwhere appropriate, take necessary action to make conditions for competition more equitable;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. WBelcomes thieves more progress has to be made in working out a global solution to effectively taxing the digital economy, based on digital businesses paying tax according to their economic activities in each country; is deeply concerned about the negative effect this has on the market hindering smaller actors that operate locally from competing on equal terms; asks the Commission to monitor this situation closely and act so that conditions for competition are more equitable and promote diversity in the supply of works; considers that these new sources of revenue should be channelled by Member States to support their audiovisual and news media sectors;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Commission to elaborate comprehensive European newssectoral strategies for two sectors that have different needs: news and other editorial media, and the audiovisual sector strategies, possibly by way of two separate Commission Communications, engaging stakeholders directly and via News Media Forum and accompanying the Media Freedom Act;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Stresses the need for transformation in the news and other editorial media sector, including through building individual and collective skills for innovation and cooperation, also facilitating greater diversity in media leadership roles, the digitalisation of newsrooms, the uptake of artificial intelligence (AI) including machine translation and human adaptation, changes and improvements to content creation and presentation, as well as better distribution and subscription models, including micro-payments, support to European marketplaces to share content and data without depending on foreign actors; notes that the above require additional investment and skills that news and other editorial media sector players often lack, especiallyincluding those with small market share; notes that press agencies play a special role and may be encouraged to cooperate across borders; calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide tailored support for the digital transformation of the sector;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Acknowledges the importance of independent freelance journalism and its potential for growth due to lower entry costs and easier ways to reach an audience, facilitated by innovative publishing and payment solutions, which can improve the economic situation for freelance professional, but warns against the increasing precariousness of journalists often forced into false freelance contracts that cuts costs and undermines standards; is of the strong opinion this sector must be protected through stronger labour regulation and innovative publishing and payment solutions;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Emphasises the importance of investigative journalism that is threatened by the high costs, and welcomes the Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) fund, which established a viable method of channelling public funds to investigative journalism without compromising editorial independence;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16 b. Underscores that urgent action is needed in particular to protect investigative journalists against the increasing use of vexatious lawsuits (SLAPPS) to intimidate and silence those ready to expose corruption;
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Underlines the added value of including the media sector in media and information literacy initiatives; believes that civil society organisations play a key role in fostering media literacy and asks therefore the Commission and Member States to include them as stakeholders in initiatives dedicated to promote journalism and media literacy;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Highlights that media literacy is always related to literacy in specific languages, so the efforts on promoting media literacy (including monitoring and actions) must be language-specific. This must include media literacy in regional and minority languages;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Considers that in order to help spur competition, the EU also needs to promote the creation and growth of digital media start-ups through easier access to finance and a supportive framework that enablesfor media innovation, enabling stability and scalability;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Welcomes the announcement of the two yearly ‘Media Industry Report’, in order to explore media trends; underlines the need of considering language as a unit of analysis, beyond the global trends and the national spaces thus allowing the monitoring of trends that are affecting in different ways to different linguistic spaces, including both EU official languages and regional and minority languages;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Acknowledges that the existing creation and distribution models in the European audiovisual sector are largely based on territorial exclusivity, and ownership of intellectual property rights by independent producers and creators; is concerned about the high price of broadcasting rights that make it very difficult for smaller actors to exploit audiovisual works with the impact this has on content, cultural diversity and competition; welcomes the stakeholder dialogue launched by the Commission and asks her to invite representatives of minorities and smaller platforms to take part in it; encourages the Commission to use the stakeholder dialogue to explore alternative funding models;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Is of the view that targeted co- production, translation and co-distribution could contribute to increasing the availability of diverse European audiovisual content; welcomes the investment done to promote European production and believes more effort needs to be made to distribute it through European platforms; acknowledges that, given the number of languages within the EU, subtitling is essential for the development of the sector; notes that despite the fact that there are no technical issues, the cost of subtitling is a constraint for the sector; asks Member States and Commission to take subtitling as a priority in order to help audiovisual content navigate in the European market;
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Underlines that video on demand (VOD) platforms and other innovations are reshaping the audiovisual media landscape, and by extension creating challenges and also opportunities for incumbent players; notes that in many respects, an irreversible transformation is under way; encourages the sector’s legacy players to enter new markets and embrace innovative business modelsacknowledges that there are big differences between Member States with regards to basic minimum conditions needed for a true sector market development such as technical infrastructure or the skills and knowledge of workers needed to drive change; asks the Commission and the Members States to invest in projects to develop the audiovisual market in territories with low production capacity; encourages the sector’s legacy players to enter new markets and embrace innovative business models, and asks Members States and the EU to invest more in developing a sustainable and diverse independent European audiovisual sector;
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Stresses the importance of reducing the audiovisual sector’s carbon footprint, especially at the production stage, which accounts for most CO2 emissions; notes that digital solutions such as virtual production techniques can facilitate this reduction; believes that the current MFF provides a unique opportunity for funding greening projects and reaching net zero emissions within this decade; calls on the Commission to accelerate this development;
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Highlights that film literacy is particularly important for making younger audiences aware of European cultural diversity; considers it necessary to develop a film literacy toolkit; asks, therefore, the Commission and Member States to include European film literacy in the school curricula and to promote film literacy at all levels of education and through non-formal, informal and lifelong learning initiatives as well; considers that European cinemas have a role to play in film literacy schemes;
Amendment 268 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23 a. Emphasizes that audiovisual content dealing with the EU and its history, present and future, with aspects of the European integration process, with European stories and cultures, has a huge potential to create and increase the feeling of belonging and a common European identity especially among younger audiences, and to raise awareness of European cultural diversity; therefore calls on the Commission to encourage the production of such works by dedicated initiatives and funding;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Considers that adequate financing for digitisation and promoting the availability of Europe’s audiovisual and film heritage is necessary in order to save it and to make it more accessible for a broader audience;