Transparency of media ownership in Europe

Transparency of media ownership refers to the public availability of accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date information about media ownership structures. A legal regime guaranteeing transparency of media ownership makes possible for the public as well as for media authorities to find out who effectively owns, controls and influences the media as well as media influence on political parties or state bodies.

Transparency of media ownership is an essential component of any democratic media system. Experts, European organisations and NGOs agree that transparency of media ownership is crucial for media pluralism and democracy as, for instance, it provides the knowledge to take steps to address media concentration and conflict of interests. Moreover, public knowledge of media owners’ identities can prevent abuses of media power, such as corruption in the media system, opaque media privatisation, undue influences over the media, etc., and makes possible that such abuses are recognised, assessed, publicised, debated and prevented. Transparency also ensures that ordinary citizens can be informed about the identity, interests and influences behind contents and news they consume, and that media market can function on a fair basis, especially, for instance, for new entrants in the market. Moreover, transparency of media ownership facilitates the public knowledge on the media environment; makes possible a critical assessment of the contents produced and strengthens debate on the way the media system operates. The importance of transparency of media ownership for any democratic and pluralist society has been broadly recognised by the European Parliament, the European Commission's High-Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism and the Council of Europe. In the last years, there has been an unprecedented debate at the global level around company ownership transparency which has been addressed, for example, by the Open Government Partnership and by the G8 governments in a 2014 statement setting the principles on media ownership transparency. In 2016, following the so-called "Panama Papers" scandal, the lack of records held by the Panama-based legal firm Mossack Fonseca, transparency of company ownership gained momentum in the public debate.

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