17 Amendments of Klára DOBREV related to 2020/2009(INI)
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas certain Member States limit freedom of media through economical means, such as distorted public advertising among media outlets altering competition, and controls directly public media in order to influence editorial decisions and thus ensuring pro- government loyalty;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas in Hungary the government has intrusively distorted the media landscape, in particular by favouring pro-government outlets with public advertising, whereas the creation of the Central European Press and Media Foundation (KESMA) in 2018 that owns almost all free of charge newspapers, regional daily newspapers, national tabloids and a number of regional and national TV and radio channels with a centrally coordinated news coverage, resulted in an overwhelming share and control in the media market and its creation violated national and European competition and media ownership rules which was circumvented by a government order declaring it a matter of national strategic importance;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Highlights the irreplaceable role of public service media and stresses that it is essential to ensure and maintain their independence from political interference; condemns attempts by Member State governments to silence critical media and undermine media freedom and pluralism, in particular attempts to control public service media; deplores the fact that in some Member States, in particular in Hungary and Poland, public broadcasting has become an example of single political party propaganda, which often excludepresents opposition and minority groups from society and even incites violencein defamatory contexts; underlines that in such Member States, especially in rural areas access to information is seriously limited to public propaganda and language barriers exist with regards to access to international news; stresses that safeguarding independent authorities and ensuring strong independent oversight of audiovisual media against undue state and commercial intervention is crucial;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Denounces the lack of balanced political debate in media outlets in certain Member States and that politically motivated restrictions of information exist in practice, such as rejecting data consultation of public interest, the ban of journalists from premises of public venues including parliaments, restricting journalists’ opportunities for questions from politicians and members of the government and avoiding interviews to media outlets not in the government friendly conglomerate even with significant national outreach;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on Member States to ensure that journalists and media outlets have meaningful access to parliamentary debates, to the members of parliaments and high ranking government officials, to data of public interest as well as to public events and press conferences, especially those of governments, as the lack of such access seriously restricts the notion of freedom of media;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4c. Highlights the lack of obligatory content analysis of media outlets in certain Member States, such as in Hungary, which would provide comparable public data regarding the balanced appearances of pro-government and oppositional voices on TV and radio, especially in election campaigns;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Denounces the increase in legal threats and judicial harassment against journalists and media workers across Europe; condemns the use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation actions to silence investigative journalists and outlets and exert pressure on media freedom; urges the Commission to propose legislation to stop lawsuits aimed at censoring and intimidating the critics;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Strongly condemns that certain governments, such as the Hungarian government, limit media pluralism and allow for a large concentration of government friendly media ownership by exempting certain acquisitions from competition review through government order declaring such transaction as a matter of national strategic importance; underlines that such media conglomerates receive substantial public funding, including from EU funding through public advertising in an unbalanced manner lacking full transparency;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Condemns governments' excessive interference on media pluralism through public advertising, in particular in Hungary; underlines that such practices have serious market distortion effects and thus are violating EU rules on competition; calls on the Commission to uphold EU state aid and competition regulations with regards to media financing and public advertising and monitor the effects of such malpractices on media freedom;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Calls on the Commission to closely monitor the use of EU funds allocated to support the free and independent media in order to channel the resources to those in need; emphasises in this respect that EU money cannot be spent on state controlled media and media that distribute political propaganda;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Calls for an EU level and transparent mechanism to periodically monitor the independence of national media regulatory bodies; deplores that in certain Member States, in particular in Hungary, the media regulatory bodies have come under the influence of the government and operates in a biased manner towards media outlets that are critical of the government, especially in tendering and license-renewal processes;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to urgently introduce EU and national emergency recovery packages to protect the jobs and livelihoods of media workers, support companies and fund public service media through the COVID- 19 crisis fully respecting EU competition rules; reiterates that support should be provided only for those public and commercial media outlets that are truly independent and free from government or any other political interference; stresses that in the face of the pandemic European citizens need professional, economically secure and independent journalists; reiterates in this context its call for the creation of a permanent European fund for journalists in the framework of the next MFF (2021- 2027), as redrafted following the COVID- 19 crisis, offering a non- project based, direct financial support for independent journalists and media outlets, freelancers and self-employed media workers, especially in countries where there is a serious risk of limitation of media freedom;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Condemns all types of incidents of hate crime and hate, hate- and defamatory speech that occur regularly within the EU, especially when it is used in political communication of governments and political parties;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Reiterates its call on the Member States to take further measures to prevent, condemn and counter hate speech and hate crime, so as to fight organisations that spread hate speech and violence in public spaces and online and to refrain from discriminatory and inciting rhetoric in governmental communication as it is detrimental to society;
Amendment 254 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Finds it outrageous that certain Member States, inter alia Hungary, launch publicly funded disinformation campaigns to discredit the European Union and to mislead the public about its aim and activities; calls on the European Commission to openly condemn and debunk the lies and disinformation spread by state authorities about the European Union and to publish and distribute a factual response to inform citizens;
Amendment 256 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15b. Condemns that conspiracy theories and publicly funded disinformation campaigns exist as part of government communication in certain Member States, inter alia in Hungary;
Amendment 288 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Calls on the Commission to propose European rules regarding online platforms in order to counter government practices that unnecessarily limit freedom of expression;