The 70th General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) registered an eight per cent increase in attendance by senior public service media (PSM) executives.

A third of Members attending the two-day conference in Malta (27-28/6) were at director general or presidential level.

In total, more than 180 delegates took part in the event, which provides a unique forum for debate and discussion among the EBU Community

Members unanimously supported a Declaration expressing their grave concern with the continued “black screens” and silence of Greece’s public broadcaster, after ERT was unexpectedly removed from the air on June 11 by the Greek Government.  

Updates were also presented on Vision2020, one of two EBU flagship projects, which aims to generate big ideas and recommendations to help PSM create strategies for 2020 and beyond.

A new initiative under which EBU Members will establish an instrument to carry out self assessments and/or peer reviews to evaluate their performance based on the Core Values of Public Service Media was also approved. The goal of the exercise is to increase the efficiency of PSM and enhance the value of their contribution to society. 

Central to the scheme, known as the 'PSM Values Check', will be the six values of universality, independence, excellence, diversity, accountability and innovation, which EBU Members unanimously adopted at last year’s General Assembly, in Strasbourg.