News

The European Commission has published a Communication entitled “Towards a more modern, more European copyright framework”, which it describes as a "political preview" that will be translated into legislative proposals and policy initiatives in the next six months. (See here for more details of the Communication, as well as the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on online content portability).

EMMA joins the global community in celebrating “Human Rights Day”, which commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948. In its Article 19, it upholds press freedom as a pillar of a free and democratic society (“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”)

In a recent speech at the University of Strasbourg on the future of copyright reform, Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip underlined, amongst other things, that the Commission is looking into the relationship between the creative sector and digital platforms.

Earlier today, EMMA presented the first structured collaboration project organised by Europe’s publishers at a European Commission event on “media and big data” in Brussels. The AEMII programme -- short for “Accelerating European Media Innovation and Insights” -- brings 12 publishers from 7 EU Member States together with leading technology innovators and policy advisors in the creation of a joint open innovation platform, run by EMMA’s Future Media Lab..

The draft EU directive on trade secrets, which was proposed by the Commission in 2013 and is currently under “trialogue” discussions between the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament, has again come under fire.

On Thursday 26 November the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council is expected to adopt its general approach on the Commission Proposal for a Regulation on Energy Labelling.

On 12 November 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on a case between Hewlett-Packard Belgium and Reprobel, the Belgian collecting society responsible for the collection and distribution among authors and publishers of legal licence remunerations.

Brussels-based media innovation think tank Future Media Lab. is pleased to announce the first speakers of its annual conference, titled “Technology and Media: Shaping the Future of Audience Engagement”. The conference will take place on 26 January 2016 in Brussels and features a keynote address by Tom Standage, Deputy Editor and chief digital strategist at The Economist.

At the end of October, EMMA's Portuguese member Apimprensa expressed its strong concern for how a court "devalued the freedom of the press in Portugal" following a ruling that bars the publisher of the Portuguese daily newspaper Correio da Manhã from reporting on a corruption investigation into former prime minister Jose Socrates.

EMMA released its 2014-2015 annual report at the VDZ Publishers’ Summit today. This report presents an overview of EMMA’s activities within the last year, with details about the top issues EMMA is working on, information about our member organisations, and highlights of some of the activities and events that have taken place.

European journalists’ and media organisations urge the European institutions to ensure that the draft Directive on trade secrets currently under discussion guarantees a clear and strong protection of the right to media freedom and information, or else reject the draft.

The Future Media Lab. will be hosting the next session of its Future Media Lounge event series in Brussels on Tuesday, 29 September in the European Parliament, from 18:00-20:00. The debate “Digital Platforms: helping or hurting media pluralism?” will be moderated by David Earnshaw, President and Senior Advisor, Burson-Marsteller, Belgium.

According to the recent CIM Print Survey, all Roularta titles together reach more than half of the Belgians. In total 5 million Belgians read one or more titles owned by Roularta Media Group.

European organisations representing newspaper and magazine publishers have raised the alarm over the potential impact on media freedom of a draft new law on Trade Secrets. The draft EU Directive on Trade Secrets is scheduled to be voted in the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament tomorrow, based on a report by Constance Le Grip (EPP, France.)

At a very fresh and reassuring speech of President Jean-Claude Juncker during last night’s (6 May 2015) BDZV (German newspaper association) event in Brussels he confirmed that the European Commission will suggest in 2016 a reduced VAT rate for the digital press to EU Member States.

As the media environment in Europe rapidly changes to deal with shifting consumption patterns, technological innovations and disrupted business models, publishers’ strategies are also adapting. Big data increasingly plays a role in the way publishers innovate and develop new business models, but there are many market, regulatory or operational challenges that inhibit utilizing this data in the best way possible.

In 1993, World Press Freedom Day was established by the UN General Assembly. Each year, on May 3, the fundamental principles of press freedom are celebrated worldwide. The day provides the opportunity to examine the state of press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks, and to pay tribute to journalists who lost their lives while practicing their profession.

EMMA, the European Magazine Media Association, has today lent its support to a campaign #CopyrightForFreedom which aims to highlight and generate support for freedom of expression, in the context of the current debate on copyright reform.

European Press publishers welcomed today’s decision by the European Commission to take action in the ongoing EU anti-trust investigation into Google’s business conduct.

Newspaper and magazine publishers react to Court of Justice of the European Union decision regarding VAT applied to e-books