The Role of Media Pluralism in the Enforcement of EU Competition Law

The Role of Media Pluralism in the Enforcement of EU Competition Law
Author: Konstantina Bania
Publisher:
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2015
Genre: Antitrust law
ISBN:

EU Competition Law is generally believed to play a negligible role in protecting media pluralism. Three arguments are usually put forward to support this position. First, the application of EU competition law ensures market access, thereby potentially delivering an outcome that is of benefit to media pluralism, but this outcome is entirely dependent on the economic concerns the European Commission attempts to address in each individual case and hence (at best) coincidental. Second, precisely because it is driven by efficiency considerations, EU competition law is incapable of grasping the qualitative dimension of media pluralism. Third, when exercising State aid control, the Commission can (and must) play only a marginal role in the planning and implementation of aid measures aimed at promoting media pluralism. This thesis puts forward the claim that EU competition law has potential that remains unexplored by questioning the accuracy of the above three assumptions. To test this claim, it examines a number of traditional and new media markets (broadcasting, print and digital publishing, online search, and news aggregation) and competition law issues (concentrations, resale price maintenance agreements, online agencies, abuses of dominance, and State aids to public service media). The study demonstrates that if relevant assessments are conducted properly, that is, by duly taking account of the dimensions that drive competition in the media, including quality, variety and originality, and by making appropriate use of the tools provided by the applicable legal framework, EU competition law may go a long way towards safeguarding media pluralism without the need to stretch the limits of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Amidst a deregulatory trend towards the media and given that the likelihood that action with far-reaching implications under other branches of EU law is low, the normative suggestions put forward in this thesis possibly form the only realistic proposal on the contribution the EU can make to the protection of pluralism.

The Role of Media Pluralism in the Enforcement of EU Competition Law

The Role of Media Pluralism in the Enforcement of EU Competition Law
Author: Konstantina Bania
Publisher: CONCURRENCES
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2019-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9781939007858

In an era of communicative abundance, consumers can access content anytime, anywhere and on any digital device. Safeguarding media pluralism has never before been as essential to our democracies as it is today. What role, if any, should EU competition law then play in protecting it? In delving into this question, Konstantina Bania conducts an in-depth analysis of the economics of the sector as well as the Commission's decision-making practice regarding mergers, abuses of dominance as well as anti-competitive agreements. Combining unique theoretical and practical insights, this book showcases novel tools for competition law enforcement to protect quality dimensions of competition and consumer welfare in media markets where consumers increasingly pay with their attention or data rather than money. This book is a must-read study for all scholars, competition authorities and policymakers interested in the question of how competition law can apply in such a manner that antitrust and merger assessments do not disregard non-price concerns such as privacy or diversity.

Social Media and Democracy

Social Media and Democracy
Author: Nathaniel Persily
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2020-09-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1108835554

A state-of-the-art account of what we know and do not know about the effects of digital technology on democracy.

The Evolving Governance of EU Competition Law in a Time of Disruptions

The Evolving Governance of EU Competition Law in a Time of Disruptions
Author: Carlo Maria Colombo
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2024-02-08
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1509951814

This book develops a timely analysis of the complex trends and transformations emerging in EU competition law in the current turbulent times. Repeated economic crises, the climate emergency, digitalisation, and geopolitical and democratic threats are all having profound societal and economic effects on the EU. In light of its fundamental role in the Treaties, EU competition law has been called upon to play an important role in responding to this state of 'turbulence'. This brings about significant governance and constitutional challenges, firstly by questioning how the governance of EU competition law is being transformed to respond and adapt. Secondly, these crisis-induced transformations probe the logic and constitutional limits of EU competition law within the framework of EU law. This collection brings together EU institutional and competition lawyers to reflect on the governance and constitutional challenges emerging from the post-modernisation evolution of EU competition law against the backdrop of the recent multiple crises in the EU. The essays focus on the substantive and procedural developments across the three main policy areas of EU competition law: antitrust, merger control and State aid. EU constitutional and competition lawyers will be interested in this important new collection.

Media Freedom and Pluralism

Media Freedom and Pluralism
Author: Beata Klimkiewicz
Publisher: Central European University Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2010-05-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 615521185X

Addresses a critical analysis of major media policies in the European Union and Council of Europe at the period of profound changes affecting both media environments and use, as well as the logic of media policy-making and reconfiguration of traditional regulatory models. The analytical problem-related approach seems to better reflect a media policy process as an interrelated part of European integration, formation of European citizenship, and exercise of communication rights within the European communicative space. The question of normative expectations is to be compared in this case with media policy rationales, mechanisms of implementation (transposing rules from EU to national levels), and outcomes.

European Media Law

European Media Law
Author: Oliver Castendyk
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 1428
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9041123474

Supplies an in-depth commentary on EU media law, with detailed analysis of all important legislation and court decisions. It leads European lawyers with vast knowledge and practical experience of media law provide detailed expert commentary.

The Palgrave Handbook of European Media Policy

The Palgrave Handbook of European Media Policy
Author: K. Donders
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 819
Release: 2014-03-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1137032197

Containing state-of-the-art contributions on the various domains of European media policies, this Handbook deals with theoretical approaches to European media policy: its historical development; specific policies for film, television, radio and the Internet; and international aspects of the fragmented policy domain.

Human Rights and a Changing Media Landscape

Human Rights and a Changing Media Landscape
Author: Council of Europe
Publisher: Council of Europe
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9789287171986

The media play a crucial role in the protection of human rights. They expose human rights violations and offer an arena for different voices to be heard in public discourse. Free, independent and pluralistic media are a core element of any democracy. However, the power of the media can also be misused to the extent that the very functioning of democracy is threatened. Some media outlets have been turned into propaganda megaphones for those in power. Others have been used to incite xenophobic hatred and violence against minorities and other vulnerable groups. Now the phenomenon of social media presents us with a range of fresh challenges. Blogs, video and social networking sites have become a key forum for political debate and organisation - so much so that they have provoked counter-responses from some repressive states. While there is a need to ensure better protection of personal integrity in social media, the right to freedom of expression must not be undermined. The purpose of this publication is to contribute to a more thorough discussion on media developments and their impact on human rights in a constantly changing media landscape. Eight experts were invited to contribute their personal assessments of trends and problems. They have not shied away from addressing controversial issues or providing far-reaching suggestions. Together their texts indicate that there is a need for stronger protection of media freedom and freedom of expression in Europe today. These are clearly topics of paramount importance which demand serious public debate.

Media Revolution in Europe

Media Revolution in Europe
Author: Karol Jakubowicz
Publisher: Council of Europe
Total Pages: 614
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9789287169396

The "rags to riches" story of Karol Jakubowicz's involvement in the work of the Council of Europe took him from the role of an awestruck newcomer from Poland in 1990 to that of the Chairman of the Steering Committee on the Media and New Communication Services (2005-06). Along the way, he was elected, delegated by the Steering Committee, and invited by the Council of Europe Secretariat to serve in a number of other capacities. In all of them, he contributed a wide variety of papers, reports and studies to assist the steering committee and other bodies in collecting information and formulating ideas in the general field of freedom of expression, creation of free and democratic media systems (including the issue of public service media), regulation of transfrontier television, the adjustment of Council of Europe human rights standards to the conditions of the information society, and the development of broadcasting legislation in Council of Europe member states. The present collection of these papers and reports is published in the conviction that they retain their value and relevance. It provides the additional benefit of offering a glimpse of the work preceding the formulation of Committee of Ministers recommendations and declarations, as well as resolutions of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

The Enforcement of EU Law and Values

The Enforcement of EU Law and Values
Author: András Jakab
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 715
Release: 2017-04-07
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0191063517

It is clear that the current crisis of the EU is not confined to the Eurozone and the EMU, evidenced in its inability to ensure the compliance of Member States to follow the principles and values underlying the integration project in Europe (including the protection of democracy, the Rule of Law, and human rights). This defiance has affected the Union profoundly, and in a multi-faceted assessment of this phenomenon, The Enforcement of EU Law and Values: Ensuring Member States' Compliance, dissects the essence of this crisis, examining its history and offering coping methods for the years to come. Defiance is not a new concept and this volume explores the richness of EU-level and national-level examples of historical defiance – the French Empty Chair policy–, the Luxembourg compromise, and the FPÖ crisis in Austria - and draws on the experience of the US legal system and that of the integration projects on other continents. Building on this legal-political context, the book focuses on the assessment of the adequacy of the enforcement mechanisms whilst learning from EU integration history. Structured in four parts, the volume studies (1) theoretical issues on defiance in the context of multi-layered legal orders, (2) EU mechanisms of acquis and values' enforcement, (3) comparative perspective on law-enforcement in multi-layered legal systems, and (4) case-studies of defiance in the EU.