AVMS Review and Media Regulators’ Independence: the Dancing Procession of Echternach?

On Monday September 26 2016 the CULT committee of the European Parliament will hold a hearing on the Audiovisual Media Services review. In its legislative proposal of May this year, the European Commission proposed introducing an obligation for Member States to guarantee the independence of their media regulators (specifying a number of independence requirements). The draft report of the CULT committee that was published earlier this month, however, made various modifications to this. In this blog post Peggy Valcke, research professor at the KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law – IMEC/iMinds, argues that the European Parliament should take responsibility for protecting European citizens’ interests in free, pluralistic media and, hence, independent regulatory oversight

Right to be forgotten: tackling the grey zones and striking the right balance

Today, the Advisory Council to Google on the Right to be Forgotten holds its last public meeting in Brussels. The Council, which was set up by Google following the European Court of Justice’s ruling that a Spanish citizen had the right to ask the search engine to remove links about him from search results, has held meetings in Madrid, Rome, Paris, Warsaw, Berlin and London, inviting experts representing a range of organisations and opinions to contribute evidence and ideas on how best to handle these new obligations. So far, Google has received more than 160,000 requests for removal, and has removed 41.8% of the URLs that it has evaluated

Open internet access to CATV networks: experiences from the EU

Broadband over CATV networks is flourishing in the EU and in some Member States it even has already made significant impact on the retail broadband market. Our article aims to provide an overview of the regulatory treatment of broadband over CATV under the electronic communications regulatory framework. For this purpose, we carry out a survey of the different approaches within the 27 EU Member States. Based on the comments of the European Commission within the EU consultation procedure, our observation is that open Internet access obligations upon CATV operators remains limited. --access regulation,CATV,broadband

Audiovisual Media Services in the EU. Next Generation Approach or Old Wine in New Barrels?

In this article, we analyse how the European legislator is currently responding to some of the recent changes in the media and communications environment with the adoption of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. What is the European approach to address the challenges brought about by the technological changes in the audiovisual sector? How is the EU devising a future model for content regulation? The article also puts forward a number of critical remarks that should be taken into account in the framework of the debate on future content regulation, indicating where the AVMS Directive falls short.content regulation, audiovisual media services.

Handboek mediarecht

Dit boek is bestemd als ondersteuning voor het vak mediarecht in het universitair en hoger onderwijs (communicatiewetenschappen, journalistiek, rechten...). Maar ook voor advocaten, juristen in mediabedrijven, magistraten, beleidsmedewerkers in de mediasector of toezichthouders (VRM), journalisten, uitgevers en producenten in de audiovisuele sector is dit handboek mediarecht een onmisbare gids doorheen het kluwen van de regulering in verband met expressievrijheid, media en journalistiek. Bijzondere aandacht wordt besteed aan de vormen van rechtsbescherming tegen ongeoorloofde media-inhoud (aanzet tot racisme en discriminiatie, aantasting van de goede zeden, onrechtmatige journalistiek, aansprakelijkheid van auteurs, uitgevers en internet service providers, recht van antwoord). Het omroeprecht komt eveneens uitgebreid aan bod: naast de basisregels die van toepassing zijn op de organisatie en de programmatie van de publieke omroep en de private omroepen, wordt kennis gemaakt met de regels betreffende commerciële communicatie, vrije informatiegaring en korte nieuwsverslagen, de evenementenregeling, de dienstenverdelers en netwerken, de organisatie, bevoegdheid en werking van de Vlaamse Regulator voor de media. ook worden twee vormen van zelfregulering in de mediasector voorgesteld: de Raad voor Journalistiek en de JEP (Jury voor Ethische Praktijken inzake Reclame)

Time for interdisciplinarity:An essay on the added value of collaboration for science, university, and society

In this essay the following questions are raised 1. What exactly is interdisciplinarity and how does it distinguish itself from other forms of collaboration that transcend disciplines? 2. How, in short, has the practice of science proceeded with regard to the organization in disciplines; is interdisciplinary scientific practice increasing; and where do we stand now? 3. Is there a case for further strengthening and stimulating interdisciplinarity in research and education at the university? Why or why not? 4. If so, how can interdisciplinarity best be organized in academia, specifically in Tilburg

The Communicational Paradigm of the Information Society: The case of Media Pluralism in Europe and in Latin America

Whereas the development of Information Society has caused a deep change in the communicational paradigm of the twentieth century, the predominance of neoliberal economic policies has allowed a significant market concentration. All at national, regional and international levels, both in Europe and in Latin America, policy makers have responded to these two factors, designing policies that are aimed at allowing not only individual’s freedom of expression but also pluralism in a field where digitalization and convergence can only enhance the effects of economic concentration. In the following paragraphs we analyze the case of Media Pluralism since it appears to be a meaningful example of what has, has not and should be done in order to face the expected and emerging consequences of the ongoing changes.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ