Addressing state ownership gaps in the EMFA

DIACOMET representative from University of Ljubljana prof. dr. Marko Milosavljević participated at the 50 Years of Media at Westminster anniversary conference, held between 22nd and 23rd of May at the University of Westminster – Marylebone Campus. His presentation contributed to the focus of the conference: Histories, Presents and Futures of Media and Communication.

The conference was a great occasion to present the ongoing research highlights of our project and network with a wide range of participants. You can find the full title and abstract of the presentation below. We are honored to have been able to participate at this great anniversary event.

Marko Milosavljević and Melita Poler — The Unmentioned Gap: the Lack of the State Media Ownership Regulation within the EMFA as a Potential Danger for Media Freedom

The European Media Freedom Act, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of European Union in 2024, represents a major regulatory and binding act that affects all the European Union member states as well as other countries that are involved in the EU media sector in a number of potential ways. 

Regarding the role of the state and (ruling) politics, the document establishes some key protection measures, particularly strongly addressing the role of the Public Service Media (both in the introduction and in Article 5) and the role of the state advertising (Article 25). However, the potentially problematic role of the state and its potential for interference in the media freedom is not addressed also through the prism of the issue of the state ownership of the media. The state ownership of media is not even mentioned in the document, yet in a number of EU member states as well as EU member states’ candidates there are specific state-owned media, sometimes at national, sometimes at regional or local level, through municipalities and other state entities (Milosavljević and Poler Kovačič 2024).