🔥 In this 'Hot Item', Sebastian Becker, policy advisor at EDRi (European Digital Rights), & the media lab discuss EDRi’s position on the Article 17 media privilege / media exemption of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).

📌Hot Item Highlights
⏲️[00:00] Intro
⏲️[00:38] Sebastian Becker
⏲️[08:40] Wrap-up & Outro

🗣️ EDRi is not alone on this. There's a lot of academics, fact checkers organisations and even independent publishers who have declared similar positions on Article 17 EMFA.

🗣️ A 24-hour must-carry obligation for media content: (...) this would be an exception for content moderation policies of very large online platforms. This is problematic (...) The EP CULT Committee is missing the bigger picture.

🗣️ The nature of media service providers does not prevent them from publishing disinformation, propaganda or harmful content. This 24-hour must-carry obligation could open the door to malicious actors.

🗣️ This rule creates an exception for a specific actor on how content moderation rules work in the DSA. Article 17 EMFA does not follow the DSA logic and rules that are already approved in this horizontal regulation.

🗣️ The CULT Committee [proposals] could jeopardise [the] fight against disinformation. (...) [certain] measures such as down ranking, labelling or diluting visibility of media content will not be possible or could be challenged by media.

➡️ European Parliament’s CULT committee set to greenlight controversial amendment to the EMFA in today’s vote (EDRi)

➡️ EU: How will the Media Freedom Act deal with journalism on social media? (ARTICLE 19)

In this podcast MEP Marcel Kolaja (European Pirates, Greens/EFA Group) & the media lab discuss the Media Freedom Act and ‘How To Fix’: the media privilege

📌Episode Highlights
⏲️[00:00] Intro
⏲️[00:49] Media Freedom Act - ‘How To Fix’: The Media Privilege
⏲️[04:50] Outro

📌About Our Guest
🎙️ MEP Marcel Kolaja | Czech MEP & EP Quaestor, European Pirates - Greens/EFA Group
🐦 https://twitter.com/piratkolaja
🌐 The benefits and shortcomings of the Media Freedom Act
🌐 European Parliament MEP Page

MEP Marcel Kolaja — member and the 1st vice-president of the Czech Pirate Party— is a Member and Quaestor of the European parliament. He engages in the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT), and the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA), as well as in the delegations for relations with the United States (D-US) and with India (D-IN). His work is mainly focused on topics related to the functioning of society in the digital age. Marcel Kolaja stands for open technologies, freedom on the Internet, independence of media, transparency, and a united Europe.

In this podcast Rita Jonušaitė (EU DisinfoLab) & the media lab discuss the Media Freedom Act and ‘How To Fix’: the media exemption

📌Episode Highlights
⏲️[00:00] Intro
⏲️[00:47] Media Freedom Act - ‘How To Fix’: The Media Exemption
⏲️[07:26] Outro

📌About Our Guest
🎙️ Rita Jonušaitė | Advocacy Coordinator, EU DisinfoLab
🐦 https://twitter.com/RitaJonusaite
🌐 Policy Statement on Article 17 of the Proposed European Media Freedom Act - EU DisinfoLab
🌐 Twitter thread on the Media Exemption - EU DisinfoLab
🌐 The European Commission’s EMFA Proposal is Paving the Way for the Media Exemption to Come Back - EU DisinfoLab
🌐 Reject the Media Exemption - EU DisinfoLab
🌐 EU DisinfoLab
🌐 Rita Jonušaitė

Rita Jonušaitė is Advocacy Coordinator at EU DisinfoLab, an independent non-profit organisation focused on tackling sophisticated disinformation campaigns targeting the EU, its member states, core institutions, and core values. Previously Rita worked at the European Youth Forum as Policy and Advocacy Manager and prior to that at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. At the moment Rita is also pursuing a degree in IP & ICT Law at the KU Leuven university in Belgium.

In this podcast Dr. Joan Barata (Future of Free Speech Project @ Justitia) & the media lab discuss the Media Freedom Act and ‘How To Fix’: the media privilege

📌Episode Highlights
⏲️[00:00] Intro
⏲️[01:22] Media Freedom Act - ‘How To Fix’: The Media Privilege
⏲️[12:01] Outro

📌About Our Guest
🎙️ Dr. Joan Barata | Senior Legal Fellow, Future of Free Speech Project @ Justitia
🐦 https://twitter.com/joanbarata
🌐 Protecting Media Content on Social Media Platforms: The European Media Freedom Act’s Biased Approach (Verfassungsblog)
🌐 Joan Barata is joining The Future of Free Speech (Justitia)

Since recording this episode in January 2023, Dr. Joan Barata joined Justitia’s Future of Free Speech project as a Senior Legal Fellow. He is also a Fellow at the Cyber Policy Center of Stanford University. He works on freedom of expression, media and communications regulation, and intermediary liability issues. Dr. Barata teaches at various universities in different parts of the world and has published many articles and books on these subjects, both in academic and popular press. His work has taken him to most regions of the world, and he is regularly involved in projects with international organisations such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, where he was the principal advisor to the Representative on Media Freedom. Dr. Barata also has experience as a regulator, as he held the position of Secretary General of the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia in Spain and was member of the Permanent Secretariat of the Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities.

In this podcast Eva Simon (Liberties) & the media lab discuss the Media Freedom Act and ‘How To Fix’: transparency

📌Episode Highlights
⏲️[00:00] Intro
⏲️[01:04] Media Freedom Act - ‘How To Fix’: The Protection of Sources
⏲️[08:41] Outro

📌About Our Guest
🎙️ Eva Simon | Senior Advocacy Officer, Liberties

🐦 https://twitter.com/evasimon_info
🌐 media lab - Season 1 Episode
🌐 Rights Groups Urge EU Policy Makers To Strengthen Media Freedom (co-signed by Liberties)
🌐 Liberties’ Take to Make Media Freedom Stronger in the EU: EMFA Policy Brief
🌐 Joint Statement on the Proposal for the European Media Freedom Act (co-signed by Liberties)
🌐 Liberties’ Comment on the EC’s EMFA Proposal
🌐 Liberties
🌐 Eva Simon

Eva Simon is a senior advocacy officer at the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties). Liberties is a Berlin-based EU watchdog organisation. Eva works on issues related to the field of freedom of expression and data protection. She is a human rights lawyer with a special focus on digital rights. Besides her EU-level advocacy work, Eva works on strategic litigation across EU member states. She has been active in human rights work for more than fifteen years. Prior to joining the NGO world, Eva worked as a media lawyer and a researcher. She was a research fellow at the Central European University (2006), at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, New York, USA (2005) and at the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary (2001-2005). She has authored expert studies, book chapters and articles on privacy and media freedom.

In this podcast Prof. Lorna Woods (University of Essex) & the media lab discuss the Media Freedom Act and ‘How To Fix’: the media privilege

📌Episode Highlights
⏲️[00:00] Intro
⏲️[01:06] Media Freedom Act - ‘How To Fix’: The Media Privilege
⏲️[09:48] Outro

📌About Our Guest
🎙️ Prof. Lorna Woods | Professor in Internet Law, University of Essex
🌐 EU Law Analysis: The EU Commission’s Proposal on Media Freedom Regulation
🌐 Human Rights Centre, University of Essex
🌐 Prof. Lorna Woods

Lorna Woods is a Professor of Internet Law at the University of Essex and a member of the Human Rights Centre there. She started her career in practice at a commercial solicitors’ firm before moving to academia where she has taught and conducted research in media and telecommunications regulation, at both national and EU levels. Prof. Woods regularly gives oral evidence to Parliamentary inquiries across the technology, media and telecommunications sectors both in the UK and abroad. She also published widely in these fields, and has been country expert for the UK in respect of a number of Commission funded projects. Her current research project with Carnegie UK Trust is on reducing harm arising on social media.

In this podcast Prof. em. Dirk Voorhoof (Human Rights Centre, Ghent University) & the media lab discuss the Media Freedom Act and ‘How To Fix’: the protection of sources

📌Episode Highlights
⏲️[00:00] Intro
⏲️[01:16] Media Freedom Act - ‘How To Fix’: The Protection of Sources
⏲️[05:38] Outro

📌About Our Guest
🎙️ Prof. em. Dirk Voorhoof | Professor emeritus, Human Rights Centre - Ghent University
🌐 European Media Freedom Act and the Protection of Journalistic Sources: Still Some Way to Go
🌐 Freedom of Expression, the Media and Journalists Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (7th edition - April 2022, European Audiovisual Observatory)
🌐 CASE, the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe
🌐 European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
🌐 Legal Human Academy
🌐 Human Rights Centre, Ghent University
🌐 Prof. em. Dirk Voorhoof

Prof. em. Dirk Voorhoof has been a lecturer in European Media and Information Law at the Ghent University and Copenhagen University for decades and he reports on developments regarding freedom of expression, media and journalism in Europe. He is co-founder and member of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and is also a member of such initiatives as the Legal Human Academy, the Human Rights Centre at Ghent University and CASE, the coalition against SLAPPs in Europe. Prof. em. Voorhoof has also contributed to the work of regulators such as the Flemish Media Regulator and is a member of multiple expert networks. He has published extensively with a focus on freedom of expression and more recently the impact of SLAPPs.

In this podcast Oliver Money-Kyrle (International Press Institute) & the media lab discuss the Media Freedom Act and ‘How To Fix’: media capture

📌Episode Highlights
⏲️[00:00] Intro
⏲️[01:09] Media Freedom Act - ‘How To Fix’: Media Capture
⏲️[06:48] Outro

📌About Our Guest
🎙️ Oliver Money-Kyrle | Head of Europe Advocacy and Programmes, International Press Institute
🐦 https://twitter.com/ollymk
🌐 IPI position on the European Media Freedom Act
🌐 International Press Institute (IPI)
🌐 Oliver Money-Kyrle

Oliver Money-Kyrle joined IPI, the International Press Institute, in September 2019 first as Turkey campaign coordinator and then as Head of Europe Advocacy and Programmes. He leads IPI’s advocacy around EU legislation including the Rule of Law mechanism, the safety of journalists’ recommendations, the Anti-Slapp directive and now the European Media Freedom Act. He has been specifically focused on the question of media capture, faced by IPI’s members in central and Eastern Europe. Oliver has over two decades of experience in the press freedom and media development field, having previously worked as Director of programmes at the International Federation of Journalists.