Safeguarding Freedom - Protecting Democracy

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is accompanied by the extensive use of propaganda. The aim of such tactics, meaning the manipulation of the European information space, is to disrupt a democratic, pluralistic, and free European society. Therefore, safeguarding the freedom of expression is crucial in protecting our democratic values from such external and internal threats. How to keep our democracy and a free, pluralistic media landscape well-fortified to cope with these new challenges was a central topic of this year’s edition of “safeguarding freedom”.

The in-person conference focused on mechanisms to protect an independent, free, and pluralistic media landscape whilst ensuring effective enforcement mechanisms capable to cope with violations of law happening in cross-border contexts.

Agenda

Host: Isabelle Körner

Opening

12.30
Arrival and registration

13.00
General Welcome

• Tobias Schmid, Commissioner for European Affairs, German Media Authorities (DLM – DE)

13.05
Opening Remarks

• Marie Frenay, Member of Cabinet of Vice-President Věra Jourová, European Commission

State neutrality of media: a safeguard for well-fortified democracies

13.20
The British state neutrality model

• Maria Donde, Head of International Content Policy, Office of Communications (Ofcom – UK)

13.45
A European Union approach: Media Freedom Act from a regulator’s perspective

• Karim Ibourki, Chair of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA), President of the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA – BE)

Regulatory cooperation in practice

14.10   
ERGA’s Memorandum of Understanding and cooperation amongst national regulatory authorities

• Sally Broughton Micova, University of East Anglia (participating remotely)

14.35  
How we tackle new challenges in the online world

• Laura Braam, Team Leader Supervision, Media Authority of NRW (LFM NRW – DE)

15.00  
Coffee Break

Is there a need for improvement?

15.15
Challenges and Future Regulation of Cross-border Audiovisual Content Dissemination

• Mark D. Cole, Director for Academic Affairs, Institute of European Media Law (EMR)

15.45
Panel discussion – How can enforcement become more effective?

• Siada El Ramly, Director General, DOT.Europe
• Petra Kammerevert, Member of the European Parliament
• Heike Raab, State Secretary for Europe, Media and Digital, Rhineland Palatinate (DE)
• Tobias Schmid, Commissioner for European Affairs, German Media Authorities (DLM – DE)

16.45 pm
Closing remarks

• Wolfgang Kreißig, Chair of the Director’s Conference of the German Media Authorities (DLM – DE)

17.00 pm
Get-Together