The Impact of Media Concentration on Professional ... - OSCE

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would become illegal. Hence the growing pressure from Brusselsto agree upon a harmonized European media law. A revisedversion <strong>of</strong> the TWF directive is due to be introduced by the end<strong>of</strong> 2003.Still, the media law policy pursuit by Brussels is met withlittle enthusiasm from national European governments.National governments as well as regional and local authorities,even though committed in principle to at least limit theprocess <strong>of</strong> media concentration, follow different objectives thanthe EU. <strong>The</strong>ir need to strengthen existing publishing entities<strong>of</strong>ten stands in open contrast with European guidelines andprinciples.Permitting existing media concerns to add additional marketshares at the expense <strong>of</strong> smaller competitors, is a means tosecure local jobs and ensure fiscal revenues. Keeping cross-borderinvestors away and media firms in national hands is anadditional motive for governments to allow for a certain degree<strong>of</strong> concentration.<strong>The</strong> dilemma <strong>of</strong> EU Member States governments cantherefore be best described as a difficult balancing act betweenlocal allocation politics and social market politics: to find anequilibrium between an economically necessary level <strong>of</strong> concentration,in order to protect the national media marketagainst an increasingly globalized media environment and theneed to define and to adhere to an upper limit <strong>of</strong> tolerance <strong>of</strong>concentration in order to preserve media pluralism.Concerning the EU’s desire to harmonize European medialaw Member States have so far kept the upper hand. Thatwhich is not governed by the European Union’s competencein creating a single European market and safeguarding marketcompetition remains with the legislative authority <strong>of</strong> theMember States.38 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
1.7 New Threats on the Horizon1.7.1 Cross-<strong>Media</strong> Ownership. <strong>The</strong> modern information societyhas fundamentally changed the news media business. <strong>The</strong>leisure sector, which has grown dramatically over the pastdecades, has gradually encroached onto the news market. Formerly,clearly defined, entrepreneurial border lines betweentraditional news media and film, television, book publishing,music, new online media, theatre, sports and even theme parksare increasingly blurred. Broadcasting, telecommunications andeven print media via the internet are converging. Globally operatingmedia conglomerates like the US based Aol Time WarnerInc. or the German Bertelsmann group strive to be present inas many market segments <strong>of</strong> this emerging infotainment societyas possible.Key to such strategy is cross-media ownership: newspapersare co-owners <strong>of</strong> radio and TV stations. Television companiesbuy into film production firms, create virtual portals on the internet,run video and DVD rental chains and sponsor sports events.Creating bigger economic units does economically make sense.But the inherent risk <strong>of</strong> corporate mainstreaming <strong>of</strong> content, notonly on the national level, but across borders can not be underestimated.“<strong>The</strong> experience in the USA, since the 1996 TelecommunicationsAct, has been that a small number <strong>of</strong> media corporationshave moved into dominant positions by acquiring chunks<strong>of</strong> the US media. Deregulation has boosted both the commercialpower <strong>of</strong> companies like AOL Time Warner, Viacom, Disney,but it also gives them political power.” 34Unchecked, cross-media ownership is, therefore, a deadlythreat to pluralism, to content diversity and to the freedom <strong>of</strong>the media itself. A vision that frightens the ever suspectingliberal just like the, truly to democratic principles committed34 European Federation <strong>of</strong> Journalists, European <strong>Media</strong> Ownership (Brussels, January 2003).JOHANNES VON DOHNANYI 39
Page 3 and 4: REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE ME
Page 5 and 6: ContentsPrefaceby Freimut Duve 9Int
Page 7: 6. Conclusions 187AnnexQuestionnair
Page 10 and 11: advertisement is very insecure, mak
Page 12 and 13: industrial lobbying groups still di
Page 15 and 16: 1. The Imp
Page 17 and 18: sidents” had been imprisoned. “
Page 19 and 20: determined Freedom of</stro
Page 21 and 22: co-operate fully with the OSCE Repr
Page 23 and 24: Such independence, however, comes a
Page 25 and 26: and mirror of the
Page 27 and 28: 30 million rely exclusively on info
Page 29 and 30: Unchecked, concentration will reduc
Page 31 and 32: protected, a certain level
Page 33 and 34: indication of the
Page 35 and 36: time, as the concept of</st
Page 37: It appears, however, that this posi
Page 41 and 42: owns or controls not only the three
Page 43 and 44: Target countries sometimes interpre
Page 45 and 46: independence proposed by the OSCE R
Page 47 and 48: groups to grow. And there is the in
Page 49 and 50: areas of Central a
Page 51 and 52: Directly or indirectly Mr. Silvio B
Page 53 and 54: Yet this simple notion appears to b
Page 55 and 56: newspaper firms. Using the argument
Page 57 and 58: a contribution to democratization a
Page 59: tation of this for
Page 62 and 63: This limitation in no way indicates
Page 64 and 65: press is ridiculous. Journalists co
Page 66 and 67: But these progressive aspects <stro
Page 68 and 69: Nevertheless, the loss of</
Page 70 and 71: may well be true for journalists fr
Page 72 and 73: Is there a works council at your ne
Page 74 and 75: will go to television, this being t
Page 76 and 77: Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
Page 78 and 79: Good relations with the business co
Page 80 and 81: Further, how can a newspaper, whose
Page 82 and 83: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 84 and 85: The Norwegian medi
Page 86 and 87: Have you ever been put under pressu
Page 88 and 89:
Do you feel threatened in your posi
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4. Number of Title
Page 93 and 94:
5. Country Reports5.1 Germany5.1.1
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Süddeutsche Zeitung (463,000), Lei
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publisher, the Axel Springer Verlag
Page 99 and 100:
A three directional strategy is wha
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5.1.2 Survey ResultsBacked by tradi
Page 103 and 104:
Cross-ownership has also increased
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Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234515,
Page 107 and 108:
Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 109 and 110:
Understandably all German journalis
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
As also seen in Germany, the data p
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5.2.2 Survey ResultsFinland compete
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Newspaper chains were the logical r
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5.3 United Kingdom5.3.1 Country Rep
Page 121 and 122:
• Daily Mail and General Trust: D
Page 123 and 124:
Is there a works council at your ne
Page 125 and 126:
Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
Page 127 and 128:
Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 129 and 130:
Do you feel free to voice and write
Page 131:
Page 134 and 135:
Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 30.1M
Page 136 and 137:
As regards ownership concentration,
Page 138 and 139:
Financial BackgroundDespite the pre
Page 140 and 141:
5.4.2 Survey resultsIf Finnish jour
Page 142 and 143:
of those mini-comp
Page 144 and 145:
for example, is very clear on this
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
5.5.2 Survey ResultsAn anonymous It
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portfolio. In addition, as democrat
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Mr. Berlusconi’s TV advertisement
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5.6 Lithuania5.6.1 Country ReportCa
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is quite remarkable. The</s
Page 158 and 159:
Lithuania is a small country with a
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Another tendency is that newspapers
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Only in 2003, the daily newspaper L
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
October 22 2003 was an historic dat
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5.7.2 Survey ResultsSince the end <
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y a mostly anonymous to the general
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On a daily, practical basis there
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Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 15Sou
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so-called “human interest” stor
Page 178 and 179:
indicated that Rodipet applies a di
Page 180 and 181:
5.8.2 Survey ResultsAlthough a smal
Page 182 and 183:
12345Objectivity (%) Fig. 57,114,32
Page 184 and 185:
Strengthening of d
Page 186 and 187:
Page 188 and 189:
emerging CEE countries with regard
Page 190 and 191:
- Create in all OSCE participating
Page 193 and 194:
Organization for Security and Co-op
Page 195 and 196:
1. In which country are you working
Page 197 and 198:
17. Who defines the editorial line
Page 199 and 200:
29. How would you describe the situ
Page 201 and 202:
- This common code of</stro
Page 203 and 204:
Personal and business interestsIt i
Page 205:
Orkla Media’s
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www.osce.org/fomJohannes von Dohnan
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