News

Yesterday the Board of the European Magazine Media Association, EMMA, has nominated Xavier Bouckaert, CEO of Roularta Media Group (Belgium), as President of EMMA.

EMMA (European Magazine Media Association) and EDAA (European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance) are organising a Future Media Lounge event, to take place in Brussels on Tuesday, 5 September at the Renaissance Hotel, from 18:00-20:00. The debate “New privacy rules and their impact on funding a free independent Press in Europe?” will be moderated by Karin Massin, CEO of Burson-Marsteller, Belgium.

EMMA jointly with EDAA is running the next Future Media Lounge debate on how the new privacy rules might impact a free and independent press. European Parliament’s Rapporteur MEP Marju Lauristin (S&D / EST), European Commission’s Director Despina Spanou and the CEO of the Belgium Roularta Media Group, Xavier Bouckaert will debate the possible implications of a new e-privacy regulation on the business model of press publishers and therefore the funding of trusted journalism as well as its potential impact on media diversity and access to journalistic content for European citizens.

It is with great concern that EMMA and ENPA learned last week that Polish investigative journalist from the Polish daily newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza”, Mr     Tomasz Piatek is facing criminal prosecution from the Polish ministry of defence for publishing a book about their Minister and his alleged ties with Russian entities close to the Kremlin. As a result Mr. Piatek is facing a jail sentence of several years simply for accomplishing his work as a journalist and for striving to inform the public about possible questionable behavior.

James Hewes will replace Chris Llewellyn as the new CEO of FIPP, the network for global media, of which EMMA is a member as from September 2017. Mr. Hewes’ joined FIPP in 2004 when he was working for the BBC Worldwide, and has been a director of the FIPP Management Board since October 2015. 

On 8 June, the committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) has voted on the proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market.European Press publishers represented by ENPA and EMMA applauds the decision made by the IMCO committee to reject the compromise amendments of rapporteur Mrs. Stihler (UK; Socialist).

Last week, Upday, a news aggregator app launched by German publishing house Axel Springer, reached a compensation agreement with CEDRO (Centro Español de Derechos Reprograficos - Spanish Reproduction Rights Centre) to pay ancillary copyright fees for snippets of news stories used in the app.   

Earlier today the European Parliament voted to approve the appointment of Mariya Gabriel as the Bulgarian Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society.     In this position Ms. Gabriel will be overseeing some of the Commission’s most contentious proposals, including the copyright reform bill, the ePrivacy reform and the reform of the AVMS directive.

The European Magazine Media Association (EMMA) and the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) welcome the formal decision from the European Commission in the Google competition case, which acknowledges the company’s abuse of its dominant market position.

European press publishers regret the outcome of today’s European Council Economic and Social (Ecofin) Committee meeting, which ended without a political agreement on the adoption of the proposal to amend the existing EU VAT directive in order to allow member states the opportunity to apply reduced VAT rates to digital publications.

Press publishers across Europe welcome the broad support of the European Parliament towards the alignment of VAT rates for digital books, newspapers and periodicals, which came out of a vote during the mini plenary session in Brussels earlier this week.

Press publishers deeply regret that Member States have given up the existing hourly-based limit for TV advertising.

European Parliament has approved the mandate for inter-institutional negotiations to the rapporteurs on the AVMS file in spite of persisting concerns in regard to the press sector.

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day European press publishers call to EU policy and decision makers to uphold press freedom and support the necessary legal framework for a free, independent, pluralistic and vibrant press sector that is able to perform its important role in our democratic society.

In a ceremony on 25 April, the President of the Portuguese Republic honored the Portuguese Press and distinguished the Portuguese Press Publishers Association (APImprensa) as Honorary Member of the Order of Merit. APImprensa is a member of EMMA. 

At the occasion of today’s World Intellectual Property Day, that is a yearly celebration of IP's role in stimulating innovation and creativity, EMMA welcomes     the announcement made by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) to support the publishers’ right as part of the EU copyright reform. EMMA President Auke Visser stated “Following the recent public statement of the EFJ, it is an important step to see that the European Federation of Journalists acknowledges the need for a publisher’s right at EU level which contributes to press sustainability and employment on a long term. This is a common objective that we want to achieve in order to safeguard press freedom and journalism.”

Today, 26 April, is World Intellectual Property Right Day, a celebration of creativity, invention and intellectual endeavour. This day recognises an established legal system designed to reward all the creators, designers and innovators who enrich our lives and contribute to global progress. IP is the backbone of creativity and provides individuals and companies with the confidence to invest, invent and create, in the knowledge that their endeavour will be protected at law and recognised as belonging to them so they can be paid when it is used and enjoyed by others.

Today’s vote of the European Parliament’s Culture Committee does not meet the expectations of the European press sector.

Publishers of newspapers and magazines in Europe today sounded the alarm ahead of a vote in the European Parliament on the proposal for an updated AVMS Directive that could seriously undermine media pluralism and press freedom in Europe.

Published yesterday evening, Tuesday, 7 March, EP Rapporteur Therese Comodini Cachia’s report on the EU copyright reform package recommends rejection of the proposal for a Publisher’s Right that would go some way to address the major challenges faced by publishers striving to finance an independent press and professional journalism in the face of wide-spread theft of their digital content and diversion of revenue-earning potential.