News

Journalists and press publishers play a crucial role in our democratic society informing citizens about important issues of public interest. A key part of this work is investigative journalism, which has resulted in unearthing countless revelations of concern to our society and which remains a vital part of the process of holding those in power to account.

Following the announcement made by Mrs Monika Grütters, the German Culture Minister, and Mrs Aurélie Filippetti, the French Culture Minister, on 19th February 2014, press publishers in Europe join this call to the Member States and to the EU institutions to take immediate action allowing the reduction of VAT rates on digital press.

Key vote due in the European Parliament on 17 February 2014.

The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) has last week published its inaugural annual report for 2013, highlighting the pan-European self-regulatory initiative to provide consumers with greater transparency and control over digital ads based upon previous browsing activity - Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA).

A coalition of European newspapers and magazines’ publishers is greatly concerned to learn from recent press coverage that, in the face of all the evidence of continued market abuse, European Competition Commissioner Almunia is set to settle the anti-trust case with Google without further consultation on or market testing of Google’s proposed commitments to stop its anti-competitive practices.

ENPA, the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association, and EMMA, the European Magazine Media Association, representing the press sector in Europe, express their strong support for the initiative of the French Government applying the same VAT rate (2.1%) for all press products and services on all platforms (print and digital) in respect of the principle of fiscal equality and technological neutrality.

In advance of the EU Justice Ministers Council meeting on 6 December, a coalition of European organisations representing the interests of both journalists and press publishers have issued a joint statement for the attention of ministers criticising data protection reform plans for failing to underpin press freedom and protect journalistic sources.

Last minute compromises leave journalistic data processing without adequate protection in Europe and restrictions on marketing will damage the press.

Press publishers in Europe and their trade associations call on Vice-President Almunia to reject Google’s revised commitments and to ensure a full enforcement of EU competition law (European Commission’s Competition Investigation of GOOGLE – AT.39.740).

EMMA, the European Magazine Media Association, and ENPA, the European Newspaper Publishers' Association, have raised concerns that the approach adopted by the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee undermines press freedom and directly affects the future of press subscriptions across Europe.

EMMA's Annual Report 2012-2013 was released today at VDZ's Publishers' Summit. This report presents an overview of EMMA's activities within the last year, details the top issues EMMA is working on and includes information about our member organisations and expert working groups.

The Future Media Lab. released the post-conference report for the April 2013 conference “Understanding Disruption” earlier this afternoon. 

EMMA's corporate member, Hubert Burda Media hosted a lively reception on 3 September 2013 in Brussels. Some 300 guests followed the invitation to "Burda…SummerNight", including leading politicians such as European Commissioners Viviane Reding, Günther Oettinger and Antonio Tajani, Schleswig-Holstein Minister-President Torsten Albig and several MEPs, as well as business leaders like Peter Terium, CEO of RWE.

The President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, met with senior leaders of the Association of German Magazine Publishers (Verband Deutscher Zeitschriftenverleger e.V.) on 28 August 2013 at his residence in Jerusalem. The delegation presented President Peres with the prestigious Golden Victoria Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his tireless pursuit of peace in the Middle East and reconciliation between Israel and Germany.

The Future Media Lab., EMMA’s think-tank for knowledge sharing, policy advice and business innovation concerning the future of media, proudly announces its fourth annual conference on January 21, 2014: “The Future of Content: Innovations in content creation, dissemination and consumption”. Media experts, key stakeholders, and politicians will meet each other to examine and discuss how innovations influence consumer behaviour and content creation.

In an unprecedented move of solidarity, hundreds of Europe’s leading publishers and their trade associations at European and National level have joined together in an informal coalition to call on European Commission Vice President Joaquín Almunia to reject outright the package of draft measures offered by Google on 25 April this year to end their abusive practices.

A trailer video of the Future Media Lab.'s last conference, which took place in Brussels on 23 April 2013, is now available.The conference, titled "Understanding Disruption and how it drives innovation in the media sector", gathered  approximately 125 media experts, EU policy makers and key stakeholders to work on a vision of the future media landscape in 2050 and discuss the political aspects of this outlook.This was the third Future Media Lab. conference since the think-tank's launch in February 2012.

The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) has launched the first phase of its pan-European consumer awareness campaign today in the UK – with the aim of providing information about online behavioural advertising (OBA), or interest based advertising, to empower internet users across Europe.

The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) was presented with the IAB Europe’s Initiative of the Year award last night during the Interact Congress in Barcelona.

The UK’s Professional Publishers Association, PPA,which is one of EMMA's members, has won the overall prize at FIPP’s Research Awards. In a ceremony that took place in Barcelona, Spain, on 23 May, the entry, ‘Magonomics’, won the award for Best Research by a National Association, and the judges felt that the study should also be the Overall Winner.