A draft media freedom report by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) has invited European Broadcasting Union (EBU) help to tackle growing political interference, which is jeopardizing the independence of public service media in nine countries.

Entitled “The state of media freedom in Europe”, the text by the Strasbourg-based human rights body states: “The Assembly notes with concern recent reports about political pressure on public service broadcasters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine and invites the European Broadcasting Union to cooperate with the Council of Europe in this regard.”

The paper also reiterates the undiminished role of independent public service media (PSM) as “a major source of information in Europe” and “a necessary tool for the public at large in an informed democracy”.

It concludes: “Public service broadcasters must therefore be protected against political interference in their daily management and their editorial work.”

Collaboration between the EBU and the Council of Europe is not new; the two bodies have joined forces on various projects to reinforce media freedom and pluralism, particularly in the Balkans.

This relationship was formalized in June 2011 through a joint Memorandum of Understanding, which defines shared objectives and values, such as the promotion and protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. It also creates a framework for bolstering and further developing bilateral cooperation between the two organizations.

The EBU has a record of intervening to defend public service broadcasters from political interference. In 2010, RTK in Kosovo cited government interference in its reporting. The EBU convinced Prime Minister Hashim Thaci that his government should allow the broadcaster greater editorial independence once again.

Elsewhere, the draft report (published on December 7, 2012) recommends that “public service broadcasters establish in-house codes of conduct for journalistic work and editorial independence from political influence”, welcoming the EBU’s “action to bring its members into line with its declaration of core values and develop measures to highlight and correct members breaking those recommendations”.

During the 69th EBU Winter General Assembly in Geneva (November 6-7, 2012) Members adopted a set of Editorial Principles that were drafted by the EBU as a professional guide for Europe’s PSM, especially those that do not already have an equivalent document.

The Principles derive from the ‘Declaration on Public Service Media Values’, which was adopted at the 2012 summer EBU General Assembly, in Strasbourg.