Picture: (centre) Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the EC in charge of the Digital Agenda receives (right) Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, former President of Latvia and Chair of the High Level Group (HLG) on Media Freedom and Pluralism across the EU and (left) Herta Däubler-Gmelin, former German Federal Minister for Justice and Member of the HLG.

An independent group of media freedom experts has told EU officials that public service media (PSM) “play an important role in maintaining” media pluralism in Europe, highlighting their importance in providing a variety of opinions and catering for minorities.

In its long-awaited report published on Monday (Jan 21), the High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism also stressed that PSM support civil society, serving as a tool for distance learning, as an agent of enlightenment and as a means for strengthening national cohesion.

The text also acknowledges the important and positive role of PSM in promoting democracy and pluralism, warning that governments must rigorously respect the editorial and creative independence of PSM.

EBU Director General Ingrid Deltenre, who met with the group in October 2012, said: “The High Level Group has issued a useful assessment. The EBU gladly takes note of its recommendations on monitoring national levels of freedom and pluralism, enshrining in EU law the concept of net neutrality and reinforcing media freedom and pluralism in countries that want to join the EU.”

She added: “The conclusions also highlight the importance of issues like media literacy, search engine neutrality, codes of conduct for journalists, editorial independence and providing more support for high quality and investigative journalism, issues which are actively advocated by the EBU. The group’s report provides a good basis to continue our ongoing dialogue with the European Institutions on a subject which touches upon the very raison d’être of PSM.”

The EBU this week published a Viewpoint on Media Freedom and Pluralism to coincide with the release of the High Level Group’s conclusions, affirming the EBU’s unwavering intention to play an active role in this process.

The ‘committee of the wise’, established by Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes and chaired by former President of Latvia Prof. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, also concluded that the EU should have the means to act more decisively as part of its role in defending fundamental rights.

While the group found that “main responsibility for maintaining media freedom and pluralism lies with the Member States”, it asserted that the EU should be more than a “moral compass” when media freedom and pluralism are endangered.

Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes has already declared her intention to launch a “very-serious and EU-wide political debate” via the launch of a broad public consultation. The European Commission will publish its official reaction once it has received more feedback and pushed the political debate forward.