The European Union and PSM in Troubled Democracies: A Bridge Too Far?

Abstract

The chapter gives an overview of the involvement of the European Union in the domain of public service broadcasting. Carles Llorens argues that although the EU has not challenged PSM in recent years, a new conflict focused on media freedoms and PSM is brewing, especially in the case the EU’s newest members. In these countries, government threats and new laws are endangering the European PSM tradition of independence and neutrality. He argues that the issue of PSM independence is now among Europe’s most pressing issues. The chapter outlines the EU’s fight to preserve media independence in new EU Member States and the new battleground of the EU Commission since 2016. He argues that the fight could be conducted by the EU on two levels. First, exerting political pressure through the threat of applying article 7 of EU Treaty as freedom of information is a fundamental right. Second, preserving the independence of audiovisual regulators, which could be an indirect way to preserve free and independent PSM. He suggests that enacting these principles in the Audiovisual Media Service Directive could be a definitive solution in the long term.