The European Commission has introduced sweeping new rules that it says would shield independent media from governmental snooping and intervention. The Media Freedom Act, which was released on Friday, forbids the use of spyware and other forms of surveillance against journalists and their families as well as the search and seizure of media offices, unless it is “on the grounds of national security,” in which case there is a high standard of proof that must be met by law enforcement.
In order to guarantee “media plurality” by requiring openness, the Act would also oblige media businesses to declare their ownership and any conflicts of interest that may affect their reporting. That clause of the bill has already drawn criticism from the European Magazine Media Association and the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association, who claim it restricts their “freedom to invest and manage a company.”
The law will also establish a “independent” European Board for Media Services, comprised of “national media authorities,” with the responsibility of providing guidance on legal matters, such as the distribution of public advertising and the concentration of power in the hands of a small number of media conglomerates. Additionally, this organization is intended to prevent non-EU media from interfering and “presenting a risk to public security” as well as to guarantee that international internet platforms abide by purportedly voluntary EU efforts like the Code of Practice on Disinformation.
The law includes large loopholes allowing for the removal of such content in the case of “systematic risks such as disinformation,” a term it avoids defining but has recently been used by Western governments to marginalize and censor dissenting viewpoints. The law claims to protect against the “unjustified removal of media content produced according to professional standards.”
Greece, which hacked a financial journalist’s phone, and Germany, which confiscated a journalist’s bank account and threatened to put her in prison for three years for her reporting, are two European nations that have come under fire recently for interfering with the lawful practice of journalism.
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