Media regulation in the interest of the audience

This IRIS plus Collection covers five topics:

1. Access to Information on Government Action, especially from the Media Point of View

Private citizens have two possible ways of informing themselves about government activities. Taking the first way, they can demand direct access to information held by public authorities. In an ever-increasing number of countries, such a right to receive information or to inspect government documents is established in the form of constitutional norms or via regulations provided by statutory law. The other way for private citizens to obtain such information is the traditional one, in which information is made available via the media. On account of their monitoring function the media are often characterized as the 'fourth branch' of government, alongside the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The audiovisual and print media thus have a constitutive role for democracy, which is why they are granted a number of privileges in the obtaining and dissemination of information. Taking into consideration the citizen’s direct and indirect avenues to information, this IRIS plus outlines the right of accessing information as enshrined in international and European law as well as guaranteed on a national level.

2. Regulation of Advertising in the Broadcasting Sector in Countries of the Former USSR

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the advertising market became one of the most dynamic in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Baltic states. First of all it became significant for the audiovisual media. Unlike the basic legal regulation of mass media activities which existed in post-Soviet countries from 1990, statutory rules for advertising activities were established much later. The process of establishing a legal framework for advertising activities started in Russia in 1995, later it spread into other countries of the region. Today it is still in progress, sometimes governed by the European Convention on Transfrontier Television and – as is the case for the Baltics – the 'Television without Frontiers' Directive, sometimes influenced by legal trends in Russia and other neighbouring countries. The goals of this comparative law review are to highlight and compare the special features, mistakes, advantages and new tendencies in the regulation of advertising on television that exist in the legislation of different countries.

3. Advertising Law in the Electronic Media

Advertising income is essential to the very existence of the electronic media. This type of revenue has been benefiting the television sector for many years. At first, the Internet was largely free from advertising. However, its importance as a mass medium and market place is now such that it is an extremely lucrative branch of the advertising industry. This article therefore describes the measures taken by the EU to regulate advertising. After an introduction to the general aspects of advertising regulation, an overview of existing and proposed directives and regulations is provided. The following chapter deals with selected topics such as misleading advertising, information requirements and product-related advertising restrictions. The interaction between the various regulatory instruments is described using these examples. Finally, this IRIS plus looks at new forms of advertising and illustrates how the existing legal framework may be applied with a degree of flexibility.

4. Digital Rights Management from a Consumer’s Perspective

Digital Rights Management is the term used to describe electronic systems designed to facilitate the management and marketing of rights to digital content. DRM systems often use a form of content encryption designed to protect content from unauthorised access. The purpose of this article is to consider the impact of DRM on people’s use of digital content and on its availability and accessibility for consumers. In the wake of the advent of the 'Information Economy', access to electronic content is increasingly becoming the subject of commercial exchange between content providers and recipients. The present article describes the area of conflict between the economic interest of the media industry to use DRM to protect rights to and marketing of digital content, and consumers’ desire to use digital content in accordance with their own rights and legitimate interests without suffering any unfavourable consequences as they do so.

5. Application of EC Competition Policy regarding Agreements and State Aid in the Audiovisual Field

The European Union is based on a market economy and the principle of free competition. To ensure free competition, the EC Treaty prohibits all agreements and abuses of a dominant position and prohibits certain types of State aid. However, these prohibitions are not applicable in certain specific cases because of certain provisions of the EC Treaty. How are these provisions applied to agreements and State aid in the audiovisual field? In addition to these general exemptions, the EC Treaty requires the European institutions to take account of the cultural aspects in their actions in respect of the other provisions of the Treaty. How does the European Union manage to reconcile these two policies – on the one hand ensuring the play of free competition and on the other actively promoting audiovisual industries and audiovisual policies in the Member States? To be able to understand this situation, this IRIS plus first takes a look at the application of the principle of free competition and the resulting prohibitions. Then it analyses the exceptions to these principles and the general provisions that grant a specific status to culture.