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A newsletter from Nordicom at the University of Gothenburg.Editor: Natacha López, freelance journalist Sign up [https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/latest/newsletters] | Show as web page [https://evt.ungpd.com/Issues/51e5f237-7544-4d9a-bb32-fe826904eccd/Click?ContactId=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&AccountId;=28e7cb44-1c26-446d-a73b-f3d962623969&ir;=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&url;=https%3a%2f%2fui.ungpd.com%2fIssues%2f51e5f237-7544-4d9a-bb32-fe826904eccd%3fAccountId%3d28e7cb44-1c26-446d-a73b-f3d962623969%26ContactId%3d00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000%26IssueId%3d51e5f237-7544-4d9a-bb32-fe826904eccd%26ir%3d00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000] EUROPEAN MEDIA POLICY ISSUE 5 | 2025 Several new EU proposals relevant for supporting the media industry and fighting disinformation are on their way. Meanwhile new reports paint a bleak picture of the current situation for the EU's media industry and journalists. Read about these and other news in the new issue of the European Media Policy newsletter. In this issue: Media policy * Media proposals presented in commission president’s State of the Union [#anchor-2] * French and Swedes clash over wishes for Democracy Shield [#anchor-3] * EU Commission wants input to evaluate public service rules [#anchor-4]Media economy * New bleak insight into European media industry [#anchor-5]Media freedom * European journalists – subjects to a vast variety of attacks [#anchor-6] * Demands on EU to protect Gaza journalists [#anchor-7]Digital rules * Trump sharpens threat against digital rules – EU response criticised [#anchor-8]Disinformation * Platforms don’t comply with Code of Practice on Disinformation [#anchor-9]EU transparency * Continued friction between press and EU Commission [#anchor-10] Media policy Media proposals presented in commission president’s State of the Union In her State of the Union speech, given on 10 September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the importance of media freedom and journalism and declared the commission will launch a new Media Resilience Programme to support independent journalism and media literacy. She also underlined the increase in media funding that the commission’s proposal for a new multiannual budget would imply. Furthermore, the commission president spoke of the importance of the upcoming European Democracy Shield, when it comes to combating disinformation and information manipulation, and she announced the commission’s plan to, as part of this, set up a new European Centre for Democratic Resilience. Democracy commissioner Michael McGrath later expanded on the topic further, explaining this centre would gather a community of experts to support EU member states, as well as neighbouring countries, to monitor, detect, and coordinate responses to combat disinformation and information manipulation. More details on the commission’s proposal for both the Media Resilience Programme and the European Centre for Democratic Resilience are to be expected further on. (State of the Union 2025 [https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/714d256c-a4fe-4d54-8fd1-c85fca571152_en?filename=State-of-the-Union-2025-Multilingual-speech.pdf]) French and Swedes clash over wishes for Democracy Shield Ahead of the European Commission’s proposal for a “Democracy Shield”, which is expected in November, France put forward its own requests for what the shield should entail. In a document, distributed at the EU affairs ministers’ meeting in July and published by Euractiv [https://www.euractiv.com/content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/Document2025.07.30.pdf?utm_source=euractiv&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=In%20the%20capital%20continued.&utm_term=0-0&utm_campaign=EN_THE_CAPITALS], France expressed the new initiative should strengthen the resilience of civil society against disinformation while favouring the distribution of reliable, quality information, and intensify the efforts to remove content and practices that are harmful to European democratic processes. The French suggest to do this by strengthening media literacy, especially amongst the youth, and supporting the creation of tools and platforms at the EU level to give EU citizens a “trustworthy” alternative to foreign platforms – the note mentions, as examples, search engines and social media. Moreover, the French claim that to strengthen access to reliable information, the EU needs to guarantee adequate financial support for the media in the next multiannual budget, as well as provide financial support for fact-checking NGOs. They would also like to see an obligation for very large online platforms and search engines (VLOPs and VLOSEs) to promote reliable information sources, defined by objective and precise criteria. The French also argue for ensuring that the Digital Services Act and Digital Market Act are reinforced and for making recommendations, such as parts of the guidelines for VLOPs and VLOSEs on the mitigations of systemic risks for electoral processes, forceable. Sweden, on the other hand, whose position on the Democracy Shield has also been made public in a non-paper ahead of the commission’s proposal, wants the project to build on “existing tools and recently enhanced structures” and sees it as “primarily a coordination exercise”. Furthermore, the Swedes are open to the idea of the Democracy Shield including the development of a coordinating structure but want financing for it to be covered through reallocation “within budgetary margin”. (Non-paper by Sweden – Protecting democracy from Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference [https://regeringen.se/contentassets/9266e2afaf2b465c933ac560780328b2/non-paper-by-sweden-eu-democracy-shield.pdf]) EU Commission wants input to evaluate public service rules On 15 October, the European Commission launched a public consultation, looking for input to evaluate the 2009 Broadcasting Communication, which governs public funding and public service broadcasting under EU state aid rules. Today, this requires that public service broadcasting financing is transparent and subject to effective supervision mechanisms. The purpose of the consultation is to collect views and experiences from stakeholders and experts, such as academics, on how the Broadcasting Communication has worked since its last revision in 2009. Competition commissioner Teresa Ribera said in a written comment that a lot has changed since then. “We want to understand whether these rules still make sense today and work fairly for everyone”. The deadline to reply to the general public consultation and the expert consultation is 14 January 2026. (Commission seeks input on evaluation of State aid rules for public service broadcasting [https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2383]) Media economy New bleak insight into European media industry The new European Media Industry Outlook – a European Commission report that analyses developments in the audiovisual sector, videogames and extended reality industry, and the news media sector – concludes that these industries face unprecedented competition from global giants. The report, published in September, follows up on its first edition, published in May 2023, and provides new consumer data from all EU member states, plus builds on a large, recently conducted consumer survey on media consumption [https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/3e5dda12-8937-11f0-9af8-01aa75ed71a1/language-en]. When it comes to audiovisual production, the report states that high levels of production of EU works have not resulted in reaching wider audiences. The share of viewing time on subscription video on demand of EU work from countries other than one’s own has, for example, fallen from 11% in 2020 to 7% in 2024. In cinemas, EU films accounted for 29% of cinema admissions in 2023, while representing 66% of available titles. Regarding news media, the sector continues to rely on traditional revenue streams, which have declined. A growing segment of the population now accesses news primarily through social media (37%, up 11 percentage points between 2022 and 2024), and most Europeans do not pay for news (66%). Influencers have gained further online visibility, blending news, entertainment, and opinion. At the same time, the report states the sector still counts on dedicated consumers, with 87% of Europeans engaging with news daily (53%) or weekly (34%). Citizens also still consider traditional media significantly more trustworthy than social media channels. The report presents the following suggestions for the future: * Putting users and consumers at the core of business development strategies to appeal to larger audiences. * Increasing investment in and take-up of EU-based technologies, including artificial intelligence. * Using Europe’s rich intellectual properties to stand out in an increasingly crowded landscape.(The European Media Industry Outlook [https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/0104f736-8935-11f0-9af8-01aa75ed71a1/language-en]) Media freedom European journalists – subjects to a vast variety of attacks The Media Freedom Rapid Response project has published a new report taking stock of the press freedom situation for the first six months of 2025 in the EU and candidate countries. The report tells of a vast variety of attacks that journalists have experienced in the first half of 2025, ranging from verbal attacks, threats, and smear campaigns to physical attacks, attacks on property, interference with reporting work, and legal incidents. Attacks online were the most common. The majority of perpetrators were private individuals (22%), but government and public officials were close behind (21%). There is also a trend in accusations of journalists being foreign agents or financed by foreign funding – particularly in Georgia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Slovakia. The report particularly highlights Serbia as a country of concern. There have been 96 reports of press freedom violations there during the period covered. In Sweden and Finland, there were four alerts in each country, and six in Denmark. (Monitoring Report January-June 2025 [http://www.mfrr.eu/monitoring-report-january-june-2025/]) Demands on EU to protect Gaza journalists After an Israeli attack killed five journalists on 25 August, and the number of journalists killed in Israel’s war in Gaza reached 219, protests were seen around Europe in solidarity with Palestinian journalists. One solidarity action was held in Brussels on 26 August, where around 400 journalists and citizens gathered to pay tribute to the journalists killed in Gaza and to call for urgent action from the European Union and its member states. The protest, organised by the International and European Federations of Journalists, amongst others, also raised the demand that foreign journalists be allowed to enter Gaza to report. On 30 September, several journalist and press freedom organisations sent letters to leaders in Italy, Germany, and the Czech Republic, to call for a full or partial suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, to protect journalists in Gaza and advance the “ability to access independent reporting”. The letter, undersigned by 17 organisations including the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the European Federation of Journalists, stated: “Israel is engaging in the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists that press freedom organizations have ever documented. Palestinian journalists are being threatened, directly targeted and murdered by Israeli forces, and are arbitrarily detained and tortured in retaliation for their work”. The association agreement regulates the framework for the EU’s dialogue and economic cooperation with Israel. (Belgium: Solidarity action with Gazan journalists unites 400 in urgent call for EU action [https://europeanjournalists.org/blog/2025/08/27/belgium-solidarity-action-with-gazan-journalists-unites-400-in-urgent-call-for-eu-action/]) (Letter to Italian leaders calling for immediate suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement [https://cpj.org/2025/09/cpj-and-partners-urge-key-eu-member-states-to-suspend-eu-israel-association-agreement/]) Digital rules Trump sharpens threat against digital rules – EU response criticised On 25 August, US President Donald Trump posted a new threat [https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115092243259973570] on his social media platform Truth Social directed at countries with digital legislation that affects American companies. He wrote: “I will stand up to Countries that attack our incredible American Tech Companies. Digital Taxes, Digital services Legislation, and Digital Markets Regulations are all designed to harm or discriminate against, American Technology”. He threatened to impose substantial tariffs on these countries. The EU’s tech chief, Henna Virkkunen, addressed the statement on 1 September, reiterating in a letter to the US House Judiciary Committee and on the social media platform X [https://x.com/HennaVirkkunen/status/1962549865835028757], that the Digital Services Act and Digital Market Act are Europe’s sovereign legislation and that she will keep enforcing them. But the news site Euractiv criticised the commissioner’s late response. Later, on 3 September, Politico reported [https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/03/trumps-digital-regulation-warning-was-aimed-at-this-country-00540363] that Trump’s threat had been directed towards South Korea, where a tech legislation was under consideration in the parliament. (The Brief - Will nobody rescue the EU’s digital rulebook?) [https://www.euractiv.com/opinion/the-brief-will-nobody-rescue-the-eus-digital-rulebook/] Disinformation Platforms don’t comply with Code of Practice on Disinformation Big Tech companies still don’t comply with the commitments laid out in the EU’s 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation. This is shown in a new report from the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN), released in September. The analysis is based on seven online platforms’ latest code of practice reports, which cover the second half of 2024. None of the platforms – YouTube, Google, Bing, LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram – fully complied with the commitments of the code. EFCSN conclude that the situation has only worsened since then, even though the code of practice has been integrated as part of the Digital Services Act since July this year and is nowadays a code of conduct. Still, several of the studied platforms seem to be abandoning their commitments. Both YouTube and Google unsubscribed from their code of practice commitments on fact-checking last January. And Meta, which adhered to most of the code’s commitments in 2024, announced in January they will dismantle their fact-checking programme “starting in the US” – a signal the same might be expected within the EU in the future. The report states: “Over the last two years, most platforms have become more and more reticent towards taking meaningful action against disinformation on their services and thus are less inclined to collaborate with independent fact-checkers or to fulfil their commitments under the Code”. The EFCSN represents over 60 fact-checking organisations in most European countries. (The Moment of Truth for the Code of Conduct on Disinformation [https://efcsn.com/news/2025-09-11_report-released-the-moment-of-truth-for-the-code-of-conduct-on-disinformation/]) EU transparency Continued friction between press and EU Commission Criticism has continued to be directed at the European Commission’s approach to the media. First there was an incident when eight major European newspapers, including Die Welt, El País, and Le Figaro, published an “exclusive interview” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who rarely gives interviews. But Belgian newspaper Le Soir revealed this [http://www.lesoir.be/700190/article/2025-09-21/ursula-von-der-leyen-repond-aux-questions-de-lena-nous-protegerons-chaque?utm_source] was not a sit-down interview but written replies to a limited amount of questions that were approved beforehand. Later, the news site Follow the Money requested to see text messages sent last year between von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron, concerning the trade agreement Mercosur, and received the reply that the messages had been erased. A commission spokesperson later said von der Leyen’s messages are auto-deleted for “space reasons” – a claim discredited by tech experts whom Politico has interviewed. In another incident, the commission’s spokesperson’s service claimed the commissioner for competition, Teresa Ribera, was not available for interviews because of an upcoming trip at the time the commission announced it was fining Google. Ribera herself later contradicted this claim. The spokesperson’s service pushed back against criticism in an interview with Politico that also enumerates a number of other cases that have raised concern amongst journalists. (Ursula von der Leyen’s communications breakdown [https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-politics-europe-lobby-credibility-teresa-ribera/]) (Deleting texts to save space, Ursula? “It’s not the 1990s”) [https://www.politico.eu/article/deleting-text-save-space-ursula-von-der-leyen/] Don't forget our Nordic newsletter Did you know that Nordicom has another newsletter about the media policy sector in the Nordics? It is called Nordic Media Policy. Subscribe to Nordic Media Policy [https://evt.ungpd.com/Issues/51e5f237-7544-4d9a-bb32-fe826904eccd/Click?ContactId=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&AccountId;=28e7cb44-1c26-446d-a73b-f3d962623969&ir;=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&url;=https%3a%2f%2fui.ungpd.com%2fContacts%2f00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000%2fSubscribe%3fIssueId%3d51e5f237-7544-4d9a-bb32-fe826904eccd%26ListId%3dca1d8bc1-f4bd-4d62-b27d-fd97198c951c] Follow Nordicom on social media: [https://www.facebook.com/NordicomNews] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/NordicomNews] [https://www.linkedin.com/company/nordicomnews/] LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/nordicomnews/] [https://www.instagram.com/nordicom_pics/?hl=en] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/nordicom_pics/?hl=en] About the newsletter The newsletter European Media Policy provides an update on policy developments at the European level. It concentrates on news from the European Union: current issues and trends in media policy, new proposals for legislation, debates in the European Parliament, recently taken or impending policy decisions and reactions among those concerned, new support programmes, EU studies in the field, etc. There is also some coverage of policy developments in the Council of Europe and at the international level. European Media Policy is published with support from the Nordic Council of Ministers. Editor Natacha Lópaz, freelance journalist natacha.lopez@gu.se [mailto:natacha.lopez@gu.se] Publisher Nordicom University of Gothenburg PO Box 713 SE-405 30 Gothenburg Sweden www.nordicom.gu.se This e-mail was sent to You are receiving this e-mail because Nordicom has added you to our contact list in Ungapped. Learn more about Nordicom's privacy policy [https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/about-website/privacy-policy] Want to change how you receive newsletters from Nordicom? 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