12 Amendments of Sabine VERHEYEN related to 2020/2009(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Considers that in order to fight against disinformation and fake news, reinstate a climate of trust in the media and counter threats to democratic political processes, a comprehensive strategy is needed, based inter alia on media and information literacy, and aimed at empowering citizens to critically assess media content and recognise the difference between opinion and fact; stresses the need to develop a strategy on how to ensure the reliability of news and information during election campaigns; considers the changing of funding models as significant challenge for quality journalism, as the replacement of trained journalists by less expensive freelancers is one of the challenges quality journalism faces today; underlines the role of editorial responsibility and liability of both traditional and new media; calls upon the strict implementation of competition law on the digital market and its application on online platforms;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to work in close cooperation with the Member States, independent and civil society organisations to develop common curricula on media literacy and to reach out to all citizens and journalists through formal, non-formal and informal education, and through lifelong learning; calls for safeguarding independent authorities and ensuring strong independent oversight of media against undue State and commercial intervention, calling on the Member States to ensure impartiality;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Highlights the importance of local media structures for the promotion, production and dissemination of information and facts related to local and minority artistic and cultural events, being an important instrument for maintaining media pluralism and a multicultural environment in Europe;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses that media pluralism is under serious threat both online and offline due to the excessive concentration of media ownership, which hasmight resulted in dominant actors in the media sector using information to pursue political, social and sofinancial objectives and in the lowering of the quality, diversity and reliability of the information available; calls on the Member States to establish necessary regulatory frameworks in order to monitor media ownership, avoid monopolies, ensure freedom of expression and combat hate speech; recommends to strengthen legislation to prevent monopolisation and the acquisition of mass media by individuals or large corporations, as well as to strengthen the procedures that ensure transparency as regards the funding of the above- mentioned media structures, as a way to enable the existence of private and free media, independent of political power;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Considers that accumulation of political, economic and media power in the hands of the same actors in order to retain political power is constituting a threat to the expression of opinion and in its consequences is damaging democratic competition in some Member States;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Stresses that on the Internet advertising is increasingly targeted and its revenues are more and more commoditised, mainly to the benefit of digital intermediaries, meaning media services need to provide new and innovative offers; is strongly concerned that the growth of traditional media on the digital market is challenged by some new aggregators and search engines that develop their activities by using right- holders content without contributing to its development and without ensuring fair remuneration of the creators; is in favour of a clarification of the legal status, the role and responsibility of these platforms and content providers;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Warns against overregulation of the media, as this has proved to be counterproductive and could jeopardise media pluralism, highlights however that media ownership must be transparent and national regulators must monitor this aspect particularly, given its role in guaranteeing media pluralism; stresses that particular focus should be placed on transparency and on the market dominance of technology platforms that control users' access to digital content; stresses the importance of EU competition law and underlines the importance of ensuring a level playing field for business by dissolving possible bottlenecks;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines its view that non- discriminatory, comprehensive and balanced media coverage is essential to a free and well-informed society in Europe; recalls on the Commission and the Member States to promote an inclusive media sphere in which more women, migrants and refugees, as well as members of LGBTI+ communities and people witprinciple of media independence, which disabilities, occupy creative and decision- making positions, which would in turn contribute to the reduction of stereotypes in media crucial to a democratic society;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Underlines that the increase of hate speech on the Internet is a massive threat for the right of freedom of expression; stresses the need of better cooperation of the authorities with the online platforms to tackle hate speech, without destabilizing the fundamental right of freedom of expression;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Highlights that national media, in particular public serStresses the irreplaceable role of national public service media which, as it does not financially rely on private sources, can provicde media, havehigh-quality an d impoartantial information service to the general public; highlights its responsibility to adequately reflect the cultural, linguistic, social and political diversity and to inform citizens extensively about all topics that are relevant to their everyday lives, including EU policies and news; considers that it is essential to ensure and maintain its independence from political interference, including through independence from state budget, and recalls that it is incumbent upon and the duty of national authorities to ensure balance between public and private media, to respect conditions for high- quality media and to guarantee full independence of journalists and the protection of their sources.
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Member States to introduce effective measures ensuring better protection of the personal safety of journalists and particularly of the investigative journalists; calls on the Commission and the Member States to present legislative or non-legislative proposals to protect journalist resources including whistle-blowers;