AVMS Review and Media Regulator’s Independence: The Dancing Procession of Echternach? EUI CMPF Discussion Series

On Monday September 26, 2016 the CULT committee of the European Parliament will hold a hearing on the Audiovisual Media Services review (see here for more information). In its legislative proposal of May this year, the European Commission proposed to introduce a most welcome, and long awaited, straightforward obligation for Member States to guarantee the independence of their media regulators (specifying a number of independence requirements). The draft report of the CULT committee that was published earlier this month (and that was prepared by the two German co-rapporteurs, Sabine Verheyen and Petra Kammerevert) suggests to turn back the clock. In this blog post I argue why the European Parliament – as the body of democratically elected European citizens – should take its responsibility in protecting those European citizens’ interests in free, pluralistic media and, hence, independent regulatory oversight.status: Published onlin