The CMPF selects the nine countries to conduct the pilot implementation of the media pluralism monitor

PRESS RELEASE

The European Commission awarded a grant for the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom to conduct a pilot test implementation of the “Media Pluralism Monitor” (MPM).

The Monitor was developed in 2009, at the request of the European Commission, by the University of Leuven, Central European University, Jönköping International Business School, Ernst & Young Consultancy Belgium and subcontractors in all Member States and defines a wide set of indicators and a monitoring tool to “measure” the threats to pluralism in the Member States.

The CMPF has been required by the Commission to streamline the indicators used in the MPM, with a special attention to the importance the Internet plays today, and to undertake a pilot-implementation of the tool in a number of countries.

In this framework the Centre selected nine EU countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy and UK. The nine countries were chosen according to objective criteria. First of all the geopolitical situation: the countries represent several geographical and political areas, including Western and Central-Eastern countries, founding and recently accessed Members States, also following the criteria drown by Hallin-Mancini. Then, the level of attention adopted by the European institutions was also used as a parameter, considering if there have been in the last ten years EP resolutions, hearings or particular national cases in the topics of media pluralism and media freedom. Finally, countries have been selected according both to their population, in order to include bigger and smaller ones, and to their economic wealth, to involve more and less rich ones, also following the thresholds indicated in the MPM (20 million inhabitants and 23,500 EUR GDP per capita-PPP).

“Criteria have been selected to assure the highest degree of neutrality and to allow a broad implementation in different realities. The aim is to represent a valid test to assess the applicability of the MPM in the future to all Member States”, the CMPF director, prof. Pier Luigi Parcu, said. The results of this pilot-implementation in the 9 countries are expected for July 2014.

For further information: Pier Luigi Parcu, Director, Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies: [email protected]