Policy recommendations 2013-2016
SEE Media Observatory presents an overview of recommendations for media integrity.
Since 2013, the South East European Media Observatory has been addressing obstacles to a democratic development of media systems in the countries of South East Europe. It has established its own research framework in order to map patterns of corrupt relations and practices in the media systems of these countries, but also to identify positive examples of protection of public interest in the media. All of these efforts aimed at informing public debate and advancing media reforms in the countries of South East Europe.
At the beginning of the Observatory’s research, in 2013/2014, we have introduced the concept of media integrity to denote the public-service values of media and journalism. Five countries were covered by the extensive research of media integrity – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. The findings were published in the book Media Integrity Matters – Reclaiming Public Service Values in Media and Journalism. In that period, a number of brief reports (flash reports) were also produced tackling various issues of media integrity.
Kosovo, Montenegro and Turkey joined the SEE Media Observatory in 2015, and its action research has been extended to mapping ownership and financial relations in the media in these countries. Simultaneously, in 2015, state-media financial relations were studied in more details in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia (all reports here). Implementation of several regulatory provisions in the most recent media laws in Macedonia and Serbia was examined by the SEE Media Observatory monitoring in 2015.
Independence of media regulators and public service broadcasters were subject of the SEE Media Observatory monitoring in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, it covered Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia, while in 2015 it included also Kosovo, Montenegro and Turkey. The monitoring followed the indicators established in the Guidelines for EU support to media freedom and media integrity in enlargement countries in 2014-2020.
In early 2016, positive examples of media integrity protection have been presented in more details by the SEE Media Observatory through eight case studies covering six media outlets, a set of media policy measures, and an institution engaging into the anti-corruption work in the media system.
The role of editors in protection of media integrity in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia has been in focus of the SEE Media Observatory research, also conducted in early 2016.
All research reports of the SEE Media Observatory incorporated policy recommendations for further actions. This paper provides an overview of the recommendations elaborated in the Observatory’s research reports between 2013 and 2016. The recommendations are presented for eight countries covered by the SEE Media Observatory in that period. After becoming an EU Member State, Croatia was, however, not covered by the Observatory’s research any more. Several recommendations were excluded from the overview taking into account new developments in some countries which made them outdated.
Media Integrity
Media Policy and Reforms
