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Measuring Media Pluralism in Europe: Combining Legal, Economic and

Socio-Demographic Indicators with Risk Assessment Methods

Prof. Dr. Peggy Valcke (KU Leuven, ICRI - IBBT)

Media Pluralism and Diversity & Countering Hate Speech in Europe

Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom; DEMOS Institute; Open Society Foundations; UNESCO

European University Institute, 27 March 2012

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Context

mid-1990s: EU harmonisation directive on media ownership failed shows political sensitivities about issue

But: media pluralism recurrent concern of EP various resolutions, Mikko report...

EU three-step approach to media pluralism1. Commission Staff Working Document (Jan. 2007)2. Study (2008-2009)3. Communication (abandoned)

Monitoring!

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Objective of the Study

« Develop practicable monitoring tool

to detect threats to pluralism

with differentiated sets of indicators

covering pertinent legal, economic and socio-cultural considerations »

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Purpose of Such Tool

Enhance transparency about media pluralism in Member States

Provide evidentiary basis for decision-makers

NO harmonisation of policies, concepts, regulation...

Diagnosis, no therapy

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Presentation Study Team

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Object of the Study

Media pluralism = broad term embracing a number of aspects, such

as diversity of ownership, variety in the sources of information and in the range of contents available in the different Member States. […] Ensuring media pluralism implies all measures that ensure citizens’ access to a variety of information sources, opinion, voices etc. in order to form their opinion without the undue influence of one dominant opinion forming power.(> EC Staff Working Document 2007; CoE Recommendations 1999 and 2007)

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Object of the Study

Council of Europe, Explanatory Memorandum to Recommendation No. R (99) 1 on measures to promote media pluralism

...the notion of “media pluralism” should be understood as diversity of media supply, reflected, for example, in the existence of a plurality of independent and autonomous media (generally called structural pluralism) as well as a diversity of media types and contents (views and opinions) made available to the public. Therefore both the structural/quantitative and qualitative aspects are central to the notion of media pluralism.

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Object of the Study

Explanatory Memorandum to Recommendation No. R (99) 1 on measures to promote media pluralism

[...] The concept of pluralism is comprised of two features. Political pluralism, which is about the need, in the interests of democracy, for a wide range of political opinions and viewpoints to be represented in the media. Democracy would be threatened if any single voice within the media, with the power to propagate a single political viewpoint, were to become too dominant. Cultural pluralism, which is about the need for a variety of cultures, as reflects the diversity within society, to find expression in the media.

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Outcome: Media Pluralism Monitor

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Main Features (& impact on design)

Neutral Monitoring Tool

Compatible with different normative approaches, diverging regulatory cultures

It does NOT: prescribe remedies dictate level of risk-appetite defend ideology

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Main Features (& impact on design)

Holistic / Comprehensive

Covers various segments of ‘media market’ (print, audiovisual, online – public, private, community media...)

For first time, brings together a host of previously disparate concerns to offer a multi-faceted approach to media pluralism (internal, external, political, cultural, geographic...) – cf. CoE’s broad notion of media pluralism

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Main Features (& impact on design)

Risk-based

Does not measure actual level of media pluralism, nor best practices, but threats to pluralism

Risks include lost opportunities (e.g. low availability of broadband networks in rural areas)

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Main Features (& impact on design)

Concrete / Objective

Relies on quantitative measurements to largest possible extent

Methods for calculation and border values are transparent

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Main Features (& impact on design)

EU-standardised

Common set of indicators with identical border values

But: regard for national specificities through ex ante- and ex post profiling; infra

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Main Features (& impact on design)

Evolving Tool is flexible: possibility to include emerging / future

risks at later stage, as well as new indicators

SMART-test = method applied to select « first tier » from « second tier » indicators in current MPM Specific: indicators have sufficiently precise meaning & direct link with media pluralism Measurable: they can be expressed in quantitative or qualitative score Achievable/attainable: data can be obtained at reasonable cost Result-oriented: reliable border values can be defined over which there is broad

consensus (Time-bound: data can be collected frequently enough to inform the progress and

influence the decisions)Second tier indicators may be included in MPM at a later stage (e.g. when relevance has grown, data or measurement methods have become available).

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Main Features (& impact on design)

Practical / User-friendly

As simple as possible, but as sophisticated as necessary

Detailed User Guide

Open for use by wide range of stakeholders

Cost factor: try to recycle existing data

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Structure MPM

6 risk domains (> traditional descriptions of media pluralism)

6 Risk Domains

basic domain

geographical pluralism in the

media

cultural pluralism in the

media

political pluralism in the

media

pluralism of media types and

genres

pluralism of media ownership

and control

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Structure MPM

Basic domain Free speech, independent supervision, media literacy

Pluralism of media ownership/control High (ownership and audience) concentration in terrestrial TV /

radio / newspapers / Cable/Sat/DSL-TV / magazines / internet content provision / book publishing; high concentration of cross-media ownership; vertical integration (bottlenecks in distribution); transparency of ownership structures

Pluralism of media types Lack of/under-representation of/dominance of media types or

genres: financial parity, audience parity, distribution of public interest channels (must carry), public’s access to certain content (e.g. events list, short news reporting)

Lack of sufficient market resources to support range of media; lack of sufficient resources to support PSM

Structure MPM

o Cultural pluralism domain: • Insufficient representation of European, national or world

cultures, insufficient proportion of independent and in-house production in audiovisual

• Absence or insufficient representation of various cultural and social groups in the media (content & HR)

• Insufficient system of minority and community media…

o Political pluralism domain:• Political bias in media (during election campaigns);

Politicisation of media ownership / control; Editorial independence; (In)dependence of PSM and news services; Pluralism of distribution systems; Citizen activity in online media

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Structure MPM

o Geographical pluralism domain:• High centralisation of national media systems; Insufficient

system of local and regional media (including different types of ownership, investment, access to networks and platforms)

• Representation of local and regional communities (content & HR)

• Dominance of a limited number of information sources for local issues

• Insufficient access to media and distribution systems due to geographic obstacles (PSM, broadband, newspaper distribution)

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Structure MPM

Risks are measured through 3 types of indicators (> ToR / holistic approach)

LEGAL: assess existence and effective implementation of legal / regulatory safeguards against certain threats to media pluralism (including co/self-regulation)

SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC: assess social, geographic, demographic factors having impact on / posing threats to media pluralism e.g. employment, audience preferences, access of public to data about

political affiliation of media owners, availability of certain media content…

ECONOMIC: assess economic factors having impact on / posing threats to media pluralism

e.g. ownership/control of media, industry structure, consolidation and concentration trends, geographic distribution, revenue distribution, financing, state aid, audience and advertising shares

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Structure MPM

Covering 3 risk areas (> traditional value chain)

Supply Distribution Use

Scored on basis of 3 border values (> risk-based approach)

Red: high risk – need for action

Orange: medium risk – attention point

Green: low risk – no need for action

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MPM: Statistics

Area / Domain Distribution Supply Use Total

Cultural pluralism in the media 2 40 2 44

Basic domain 10 1 11

Geographical pluralism in the media 5 17 3 25

Pluralism of media types and genres 3 15 3 21

Pluralism of ownership and control 8 20 28

Political pluralism in the media 3 32 2 37

Total 21 134 11 166

Type / Domain Economic LegalSocio-demographic Total

Cultural pluralism in the media 6 13 25 44

Basic domain 11 11

Geographical pluralism in the media 6 7 12 25

Pluralism of media types and genres 12 7 2 21

Pluralism of ownership and control 15 13 28

Political pluralism in the media 16 21 37

Total 39 67 60 166

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Example of Score Sheet

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Example of Score Sheet

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Example of Report Sheet

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RISK PROFILE PLURALISM OF OWNERSHIP & CONTROL: INDICATORS PER RISK

0

1

1

2

2

3

3

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4

O1.1O1.2

O1.3

O2.1

O2.2

O2.3

O3.1

O3.2

O3.3

O4.1

O4.2

O4.3

O5.1O5.2

O5.3O6.1

O6.2

O6.3

O7.1

O7.2

O7.3

O8.1

O8.2

O8.3

O9.1

O9.2

O10.1O10.2

O1 High ownership concentration in terrestrialtelevision

O2 High ownership concentration in radio

O3 High ownership concentration in newspapers

O4 High ownership concentration inCable/Sat/ADSL/TV

O5 High ownership concentration in magazines

O6 High ownership concentration in internetcontent provision

O7 High ownership concentration in bookpublishing

O8 High concentration of cross-media ownership

O9 High vertical concentration

O10 Intransparency in ownership structures

HIGH RISK

MODERATE RISK

LOW RISK

SCORE

Example of Report Sheet

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RISK PROFILE PLURALISM OF OWNERSHIP & CONTROL: OVERALLRISK SCORES

O1 High ownership concentration in terrestrial television

O2 High ownership concentration in radio

O3 High ownership concentration in newspapers

O4 High ownership concentration in Cable/Sat/ADSL/TV

O5 High ownership concentration in magazines

O6 High ownership concentration in internet content provision

O7 High ownership concentration in book publishing

O8 High concentration of cross-media ownership

O9 High vertical concentration

O10 Lack of transparency in ownership structures

HIGH RISK

MODERATE RISK

LOW RISK

SCORE

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Calculation of Average Scores

Start

# High Risk = 0

# Low Risk /Total> 75%

# High Risk = 1# High Risk /Total

> 40%

# High Risk > 1

Green Orange Red

YES NO

YES NO NO YES

NO YES

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Interpretation of the ‘Rose’ or ‘Radar’

Risk assessment and selection of indicators was done at ‘high level’: Can we, on the basis of ‘experience’ – drawing from academic literature,

the existence of regulatory safeguards and/or policy discourse –conclude that a specific situation is widely accepted as a relevant risk for media pluralism today?

“SMART”-test (supra)

No relevance test for user (fear of manipulation)

But some may be more (or less) relevant for country A than country B (cf. preliminary test of MPM by AGCOM)

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Scoring phase

Interpretation phase

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Interpretation of the ‘Rose’ or ‘Radar’

Necessary to interpret results

With respect for interaction between indicators

On the basis of national characteristics (e.g. developing /

mature media markets, small / large numbers of ethnic

minorities, high / low population density in urban areas…)

“Guidelines for interpretation” (User Guide)

“Ex post profiling”

Except for: population size and GDP/capita

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Ex Ante-Profiling

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Ex Ante-Profiling

Why? Take into account national specificities

How? Border values are adjusted for small / large markets to combine effects of population and GDP per capita

2 Variables: Population: large > 20 mio.; small < 20 mio.

GDP/capita: high > 23,500 Euro; low < 23,500 Euro

4 Options: Large population and high GDP/capita: default border values

Large population and low GDP/capita: border values are multiplied by 1.20

Small population and high GDP/capita: border values are multiplied by 1.25

Small population and low GDP/capita: border values are multiplied by 1.33

For a selected number of indicators (mainly economic indicators: e.g. concentration ratios in ownership domain, audience and financial parity in media types & genres, proportions between local & national in geographic pluralism)

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Concluding remarks

How to finetune the prototype?

EU funding for implementation?

Confrontation with insights from outside Europe:

Dimensions of media pluralism?

Comprehensiveness versus feasibility?

Risk-based approach?

Methods?

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Thank you for your attention!peggy.valcke@law.kuleuven.be

Study / media monitoring tool / preparatory country reports

available on the Commission's Media Taskforce website:http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/media_taskforce/pluralism/index_en.htm

(or in print via Lulu.com)

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=> LL.M. IP-IT Law in Brusselsfrom 2012-2013 onwards

http://www.law.kuleuven.be/icri/psiml/