18 Amendments of Birgit SIPPEL related to 2020/2009(INI)
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
— having regard to the Commission Communication of 20 June 2020 entitled "Tackling COVID-19 disinformation - Getting the facts right";
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas according to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, the COVID- 19 pandemic has highlighted and amplified many other crises that threaten the right to freely reported, independent, diversereveals a wide range of discrepancy between the individual Member States varying from second place in the world ranking given to Finland up to one hundred and reliable informationeventh place given to Bulgaria;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas according to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index the COVID- 19 pandemic has highlighted and amplified many other crises that threaten the right to freely reported, independent, diverse and reliable information;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas recent years show a growing pattern of intimidation to silence journalists that requires urgent actions to uphold the essential role of the independent media in ensuring the principles of rule of law;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas the transparency of the media ownership is an absolute precondition for ensuring media pluralism and independent journalism;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas strengthening media freedom requires credible and detailed information on the scope and the nature of the challenges within the Member States and the EU as a whole, including on individual cases of violation of the principles of the independent media or infringements of fundamental rights of journalist;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas the rights of the journalists to report and investigate needs to be further enhanced and effectively protected;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Strongly reiterates its call on the Commission to treat attempts by Member State governments to damage media freedom and pluralism as constituting a serious and systematic abuse of powers and as going against the fundamental values of the EU as enshrined in Article 2 TEU; welcomes, therefore, the Commission’s intention to include a specific chapter on monitoring media freedom and pluralism in its Annual Report on the Situation of the Rule of Law within the EU; urges the Commission to take into account the impact of the emergency measures taken in 2020 in the context of COVID-19 on press freedom, media pluralism and safety of journalists; in this context, recalls Parliament’s repeated call for a permanent, independent and comprehensive mechanism covering democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in the EU; urges the Commission and Member States to develop and maintain credible framework of protections of media freedom and media pluralism; highlights the need of a fully-fledged EU mechanism on media freedom, beyond the framework of the new Rule of Law mechanism, which should introduce clear standards and benchmarks at EU level as well as incentives for higher convergence between the individual Member States, including through legislation, if necessary.
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission to monitor and collect information and statistics on media freedom and pluralism within all Member States, and to analyse closely cases of the infringement of the fundamental rights of journalists;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Reiterates its concern that few specific legal or policy frameworks protecting journalists and media workers from violence, threats and intimidation can be identified at national level within the EU; calls on public figures and representatives of the authorities to refrain from denigrating journalists as this undermines trust in the media across society; underlines the important role of journalists in reporting on protests and demonstrations and calls for their protection from both the protesters and law enforcement in order that they can carry out their role without fear; asks Member `states to provide specific training programmes for law enforcement who are responsible for fulfilling state obligations of the protection of journalists, calls on the Member States and the Commission to ensure the effective protection and safety of journalists and other media actors as well as of their sources, including in a cross-border context; strongly reiterates its call on the Commission to present proposals to prevent so-called ‘Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation’ (SLAPP); highlights that women journalists are especially vulnerable to harassment and intimidation and therefore should be subject to additional safeguards;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Reaffirms that anonymity and encryption are essential tools for the exercise of democratic rights and freedoms, and for protecting the confidentiality of sources in journalism
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that excessive concentration of the content-producing and content-distributing sectors may threaten citizens’ access to a range of content; underlines that media pluralism, which depends on the existence of a diversity of media ownership and of content as well as independent journalism, is key to challenging the spread of disinformation and ensuring that EU citizens are well- informed; condemns any attempt to monopolize the media ownership in the Member States as well as to exert political interference in media management; urges the Commission and the Member States to act quickly and resolutely to increase the transparency of the media ownership and the financial sources used by media owners as well as to fight more efficiently irregular or covert funding practices which threaten per se the independence, credibility and sustainability of the media sector and affects the freedom of expression;
Amendment 194 #
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; 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 direct financial support for independent journalists and media outlets, freelancers and self-employed media workers; highlights that investigative journalism as key for the critical thinking and for ensuring transparency and checks on the work of politicians and invites the Commission to propose a dedicated financial instrument providing financial support explicitly for investigative journalism
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Takes note of the Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online, promoted by the Commission, and of its fourifth evaluation round, from which it emerges that IT companies are remov71% of the content deemed to be illegal hate speech was removed; highlights the wide marging on average 72 % of the illegal hate speech notified to themf discretion left to private companies to determine what is illegal; Stresses the necessity to have all companies that run platforms to be part of the code of conduct;;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Calls on Member States to increase their efforts to strengthen media literacy across education to help citizens identify disinformation;
Amendment 286 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Calls on social media companies and online platforms to make available tools to enable users to report and flag potential disinformation in order to facilitate prompt rectification and to allow for review by independent and impartial third party fact checking organisations;