Transparency of media ownership in Europe

[3] In 2016, following the so-called "Panama Papers" scandal, the lack of records held by the Panama-based legal firm Mossack Fonseca, transparency of company ownership gained momentum in the public debate.

[2] To be meaningful and easily accessible by the citizens and national media authorities, this information should be updated, searchable, free and reusable.

A recent 2015 resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, notes with concern that media outlets are frequently owned and controlled in an opaque-manner.

This is due either to the lack of national transparency provisions or to non-transparent indirect or hidden ownership schemes, often linked to political, economic or religious interests and affiliations.

[8] Also, citizens should be able to get information on all types of media actors in a given countries, whether print, broadcast, or online, foreign or domestic.

Alternatively, or in addition, an accessible, easy-to-navigate and searchable online database on transparency of media ownership can be developed by an independent body.

[9] Specifically, media ownership transparency is crucial for promoting media pluralism, a principle set forth in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which entails a positive obligation for the state to "put in place an appropriate legislative and administrative framework to guarantee effective pluralism".

In April 2016, following the lack of records held by the Panama-based legal firm Mossack Fonseca (the "Panama Papers"), the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain reached an agreement for easing the automatic exchange of information of beneficial ownership of companies and trusts.

For instance, this is the case of Norway that shaped the Norwegian Media Ownership Act on the basis of the obligations enshrined in the constitution.

This is particular relevant when the constitution does not impose a positive obligation upon the state, but simply provides the option of disclosing media ownership transparency data.

Given the variability of such provisions in Europe, and given the fact that in many countries the required data disclosure is not conceived for directly addressing media transparency, the information provided are in many cases inadequate and does not serve the objective of effectively assessing whether domestic ownership limits or prohibitions are being respected.

[8] First, European countries legislation is not homogeneous in requiring disclosure from all three media sectors (i.e. broadcasting; print and online).

Critics have accused the Polish government of using such legislation to target an opposition outlet and to restrict free speech in the country.

However, the ruling party in Poland has explained that the intention behind the law was to stop foreign autocratic influence on Polish media.

If passed, nongovernmental organizations and media outlets receiving over a fifth of their funding from without Georgia would be required to register as "agents of foreign influence".

In addition, as in the case of disclosure to public authorities, some problems impede the full implementation of the existing rules, in particular, lack of enforcement, inadequate oversight and minimal requirements.

Failure to provide the requested information generally leads to fines and sanctions, and invalidation of the company registration.

In many European countries, academics, NGOs and civil society carry out research and mapping of media ownership, and publish ad hoc publications on the topic.

For instance, in Spain the platform Portal de la Comunicación[17] run by the University of Barcelona effectively monitors the media providing data and statistics to the public.

Similarly, in Romania the Mediaindex, managed by the Centre for Independent Journalism, provides useful information on media ownership.

[8] There are also cases of media company voluntarily providing information on their financial sources and ownership structure directly to the public through their websites.

This is the case, for instance, of Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper in Italy, the Guardian in the UK, and DV in Iceland.