EU leaders must considerably strengthen the European media ecosystem. This is the conclusion drawn by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) after reading the results of the latest Eurobarometer survey on citizens’ concern about communication-related risks, such as disinformation, fake content generated by artificial intelligence, independence of the media, Big Tech’s dominance, and threats to freedom of expression.
The Eurobarometer, which surveyed 26,453 people across all EU members states found that tackling inflation, rising prices and the cost of living is people’s top priority for EU action, followed by the economy and job creation (35%). Defence and security, public services and the fight against poverty and social exclusion made up the rest of people’s top five priorities.
The survey also revealed a particularly high level of public concern about the risks to Europe’s media ecosystem. Citizens express very high concern regarding:
- the independence of the media (56% are “highly worried” in the EU, but up to 75% in Italy, 71% in Greece and 70% in Spain),
- disinformation (69% in the EU, but up to 85% in Spain, 82% in Cyprus and 80% in Italy),
- the influence of non-EU countries on elections or politics (56% in the EU, but up to 74% in Italy and 70% in Poland),
- misleading content created by AI, like deepfake videos (68% in the EU, but up to 84% in Cyprus and 79% in Malta and Luxemburg),
- the lack of transparency in the way algorithms make decisions on the internet (55% in the EU, but up to 72% in Italy and 71% in Cyprus),
- the control of social media by a few big companies (63% in the EU, but up to 77% in Italy and 73% in Ireland),
- and threats to freedom of speech (67% in the EU, but to 85% in Spain, 84% in Italy and 73% in Greece, Cyprus and Malta).
“The European Commission and the European Parliament must respond to the legitimate concerns of citizens for their freedom of expression and the integrity of the information space in Europe,” insists Maja Sever, president of the EFJ. “The EU Multiannual-Financial Framework (MFF) must guarantee adequate funding for journalism, which is still the best antidote to disinformation. We strongly call on the EU to take concrete action on the topics of protecting journalists, supporting media pluralism, the independence of newsrooms, and the enforcement of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA). The European Commission’s EU Democracy Shield initiative must consider the media and independent journalism as a critical infrastructure and treat it as such. Public-interest journalism must be protected from the private interests of Big Tech, which are increasingly posing a terrible threat to democracy and the rule of law.”
Source: EFJ
