MORGANTI
CRITICAL ISSUES
For a long time in the European Union, public broadcasters were about cultural
knowledge. In the European Union the media policy has been regarded as a cultural
policy, education policy… In the beginning in the European Union the European
audiovisual policy was regarded as a cultural enterprise. That is not the case anymore.
The legislation for artificial intelligence is the first example of the EU being proactive.
Artificial intelligence is basically algorithms or coding
Characteristics of the EU audiovisual market:
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Market fragmentation
• It’s hard to create something that is equally appealing for all of them
• However some countries have advantages: f.ex. when UK release a show or
movie it’s easier for it to be more successful for a simple issue of language,
but language is not culture
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Global competitions of platforms and broadcast networks
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Over production and limited circulation
• there is a lot of production in Italy for example that doesn’t get out of the
country, there is no time for circulation. The countries produce even too
much, but the circulation is limited.
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European Union specific issues
• different languages, different cultures, political frameworks…
The pace of the technological innovations is much quicker than the pace of the
regulation in the European Union. The European Union’s approach in this field of the
audiovisual sector has been more reactive than proactive.
Policy Approach history
Before Television Without Frontiers there have been three phases in media policy
1) Until 70’s national media policy: PBS with social and political objectives,
2) 70’s - 90’s Liberalisation: private actors, internationalization of media business,
growth of advertising, media policy concerned with managing competition
3) 90’s to present...--> digitization, internet
, Audiovisual sector: film, broadcasting (that including TV and radio), video and
everything that is multimedia activities
Current challenges of the audiovisual sector in EU:
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In the past decade it has gone through rapid changes due to technological and
digital revolutions that have reshaped how audiovisual content is produced,
distributed and consumed
• The legislation is not able to keep up with the pace of innovation
• Digitalization of content has been the main disruptive factor
• Digitalization means that all possible content can be consumed in
a digital format, content can be translated into zeros and ones.
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Before every sector was separated, but now It is difficult to talk only about one sector
because they are all interconnected.
• For the Commission, whenever they do something, whenever they propose
something, they have to think of all the sectors at the same time, because
they influence each other
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Need for professionals to develop digital skills to improve the quality of content
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There is a wide range of information sources, and that increases citizen’s exposure
to misleading or false information. This represents a major challenge for democracy
in the European Union.
The European Commission is regulating the field but also helping the field to become
more competitive and increase distribution. BUT Also, they have to make sure that
it is in line with fundamental rights (the values connect with the legislation)
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F, ex , there is a provision for freedom of expression, so the freedom of the media
shall be respected
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Before we wouldn’t think that the provider of the network should have to also
monitor the content (f.ex. hate speech)
They key piece of legislation in the field is the AVMSD (Audiovisual Media Services Directive).
Created in 2010 and revised in 2018.
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For the European Union, the situation today is tied to safeguard Europe’s cultural diversity. The
European Commission also connected its values of diversity with the legislation in this directive
(10% of independent content in the schedule of the programme).
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Quotas are mandatory for VOD. Promoting European works
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Product placement allowed (relaxation of advertisement rules)
• Broadcasters can choose when to insert adv
• Allowing new forms of adv (split screen)
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Regulation of hate speech
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Rules for the protection of minors (icons in the screen)
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Rules for video sharing platforms and social media
,What kind of legal framework the EU wants to establish?
This is in line with what we saw with
- AVMSD
- Directive of copyright in the DSM
- The Digital Services Act
All is connected, you can’t take a look at something without taking a look at the complex
The main EU instrument to help the industry (especially the film industry) is the
programme Creative Europe. It supports culture and audiovisual sectors
EU news industry:
What kinds of problems are news media companies facing? The European Commission
has difficulties coming up with a legislation that works for platforms, technology giants
and newspapers and news media companies.
Why are news media important for the EU? They are crucial in order to sustain a
healthy democracy.
Issues in the news media industry:
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Missed adaptation to the digital context
• Failure of traditional business models
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Trust crisis and credibility gap
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Bad quality of journalism (bc of the speed of the process)
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Disinformation and fake news (humans are the source of fake news by not checking
info)
• What can we do? More money to the news industry to innovate
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Decline of print (trend of digital circulation)
Policies:
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Innovation and financial support to the sector
Social media and platforms
What are online platforms? They are also a two sided market, online platforms want to
generate traffic. We are prosumers, we consume but we also create content. It is
important to highlight the collaborative dimension.
The main business models for social platforms: advertising, subscription, content
making (prosumers)
There are two important reasons why the online platforms are crucial for the EU: they
are strong drivers of innovation and because of the economic/creation point of view.
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The advertising online revenues go to Facebook and Google primarily. There is a
wide variety of applications and companies that could be described as online
platforms, that is why it is difficult to create a regulation that works for all of them.
ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND PLATFORMS
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Balancing freedom of expression and protection of users
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Competition in the European digital market
• Create a level playing field
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Privacy and use of data
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Create content moderation policies
, Digital Service Act Package
Is made of 2 legislative acts (DSA and DMA) with the goal of establish a level playing field and a
safer digital space (protect core values)
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Regulates digital services directly
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Digital services: online marketplaces, social networks, content-sharing platforms, app
stores, travel and accommodation platforms
Digital Service Act DSA
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Protect users from harmful content
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Ensuring transparency for online platforms that lead to fairer digital markets
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Content moderation (improving visibility of authorative sources, f ex)
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Access to data of key platforms
Digital Markets Act DMA
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It applies to “gatekeepers” (online intermediaries: search engines, social networks,
etc)
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Preventing gatekeepers from imposing unfair conditions (self-preferencing)
