Following today's S&D seminar on 'Diversity in Media and Culture Versus Convergence', S&D MEP and chair of the education and culture committee, Silvia Costa, said:
"Today, with the outstanding diffusion by the web, broadband, digital TV and Wi-Fi devices, we can acknowledge that the digital challenge is indeed a change of cultural paradigm, an ecosystem that has already revolutionised our societies, a processing of knowledge, fruition and communication, and a production of content and services reaching global markets.
"However, this might also threaten freedom and plurality of information if it is not accompanied by an institutional convergence; by strengthening and better coordinating national warranty and control mechanisms, meaning it is essential to guarantee the effective independence from governments and better cooperation at a European level."
S&D MEP and coordinator for the education and culture committee, Petra Kammerevert, added:
"Democratic societies need critical media as much as they need air to breathe.
"Diversity in media, both inside and outside the EU, is endangered as a result of opposing points of views. On the one hand the progressing media convergence leads to harder global competition for gaining the attention of the audience - as we can see from the different mergers in media business, the economic pressure increases. On the other hand, we recognize trends in the EU where Government bodies influence independent media. We must counter these trends.
"It is our political task to create favourable conditions for a diverse media landscape."
