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

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Service for civil society (%) Fig. 11123456,613,221,723,634,90 10 20 30 40 50<strong>The</strong> problem is that politicians, industrialists and, <strong>of</strong> course,pr<strong>of</strong>essional journalists in Central and Eastern Europe in manyinstances do not get the right signals from Western Europeanelites.Instead <strong>of</strong> being too cosy with the powerful, the journalisticmessage from Western Europe should be that newspapersgain their credibility only on merit <strong>of</strong> full intellectual and ideologicalindependence.Yet there are glimmers <strong>of</strong> hope. Newspapers may be subjectedto outside pressure, but journalists insist on “service forcivil society” (Fig. 11) and Strengthening <strong>of</strong> the democratic process(Fig. 12) as being important to very important criteria for the editorialline <strong>of</strong> their papers. Striving for these objectives is consideredan integral part <strong>of</strong> the pr<strong>of</strong>ession almost equally amongWestern European journalists and journalists from CEE countriesincluded in this survey.It is, however, important to remember that both civil societyand democracy can only flourish where pluralism and contentdiversity <strong>of</strong> the media is guaranteed. For that purpose it needsfree and independent pr<strong>of</strong>essional journalists. When politicsand industry abuse the economic weakness <strong>of</strong> newspapers,freedom <strong>of</strong> the media and with it civil society and democracywill inevitably suffer.One <strong>of</strong> the means to safeguard the independence <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essionaljournalism is for media companies to put internal rules82 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
Strengthening <strong>of</strong> democratic process (%) Fig. 121234513,315,921,223,026,50 10 20 30 40 50in place that protect journalists from pressure both from withinand outside the company. In contrast to former experimentswith so called editorial statutes, which gave editors and journalistscertain rights to interfere with purely entrepreneurialdecisions, such rules <strong>of</strong>fer clear guidelines to both the journalistand their “targets” <strong>of</strong> research and investigation about whatto do and what not to do. One such rule used in many newspapersis that reimbursements <strong>of</strong> travel expenses by third partiesare not acceptable. Another disposition would be the clearorder to journalists never to accept gifts or any kind <strong>of</strong> benefitsthey may be <strong>of</strong>fered. At the same time such internal rules normallyinclude a clear divide between editorial responsibilitiesand those <strong>of</strong> general management and marketing in particular,as well as full protection <strong>of</strong> the journalists’ independence againstunwarranted pressure or even outright blackmailing.<strong>The</strong> Norwegian Publishing group Orkla has been one <strong>of</strong>the first media companies to introduce a comprehensive set<strong>of</strong> rules to safeguard the editorial independence <strong>of</strong> their newspapers.<strong>The</strong>se “Publishing Principles” have been extended byOrkla to all media acquisitions in Central and Eastern Europeancountries.It seems as if the idea <strong>of</strong> safeguarding editorial independenceis slowly catching up with the industry. Recently, other mediagroups such as the German Springer Verlag have introduced similarprinciples as well. <strong>The</strong> German WAZ group has not issuedGENERAL SURVEY RESULTS 83
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REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE ME
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ContentsPrefaceby Freimut Duve 9Int
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6. Conclusions 187AnnexQuestionnair
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advertisement is very insecure, mak
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industrial lobbying groups still di
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1. The Imp
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sidents” had been imprisoned. “
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determined Freedom of</stro
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co-operate fully with the OSCE Repr
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Such independence, however, comes a
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and mirror of the
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30 million rely exclusively on info
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Unchecked, concentration will reduc
Page 31 and 32: protected, a certain level
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Page 35 and 36: time, as the concept of</st
Page 37 and 38: It appears, however, that this posi
Page 39 and 40: 1.7 New Threats on the Horizon1.7.1
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 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
Page 91 and 92: 4. Number of Title
Page 93 and 94: 5. Country Reports5.1 Germany5.1.1
Page 95 and 96: Süddeutsche Zeitung (463,000), Lei
Page 97 and 98: publisher, the Axel Springer Verlag
Page 99 and 100: A three directional strategy is wha
Page 101 and 102: 5.1.2 Survey ResultsBacked by tradi
Page 103 and 104: Cross-ownership has also increased
Page 107 and 108: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 109 and 110: Understandably all German journalis
Page 111 and 112: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 113 and 114: As also seen in Germany, the data p
Page 115 and 116: 5.2.2 Survey ResultsFinland compete
Page 117 and 118: Newspaper chains were the logical r
Page 119 and 120: 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 127 and 128: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 129 and 130: Do you feel free to voice and write
Page 131: Do you feel threatened in your posi
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Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 30.1M
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As regards ownership concentration,
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Financial BackgroundDespite the pre
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5.4.2 Survey resultsIf Finnish jour
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of those mini-comp
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for example, is very clear on this
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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
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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
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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
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indicated that Rodipet applies a di
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5.8.2 Survey ResultsAlthough a smal
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12345Objectivity (%) Fig. 57,114,32
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Strengthening of d
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Do you feel threatened in your posi
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emerging CEE countries with regard
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- Create in all OSCE participating
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Organization for Security and Co-op
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1. In which country are you working
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17. Who defines the editorial line
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29. How would you describe the situ
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- This common code of</stro
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Personal and business interestsIt i
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Orkla Media’s
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www.osce.org/fomJohannes von Dohnan
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