The Media Pluralism Principle, Financing of Public Broadcasters and EU Law

Abstract

In the rise in authoritarian trends in Hungary and Poland, public broadcasters are crucial in supporting the political forces in power and the role of private broadcasters or digital media to challenge these dominant narratives is not as significant concerning specific groups of voters, such as older people. This is a noteworthy shift in perspective on the role of public broadcasters in the EU. Public broadcasters have so far been perceived as an element that strengthens media pluralism throughout the EU whereas, in these particular Member States, they are used to curtail media pluralism through the manifest promotion of government-related content.

The article analyses the question as to how one can make sure that the use of public funds to support such broadcasters does not undermine media pluralism by the distortion of citizens’ rights to be informed (rights of freedom of expression and information). The European Commission expressed its primary view on this issue about a complaint it received on the anticompetitive mode of funding the public broadcaster in Hungary, explicitly stating that the violation of freedom of expression goes beyond State aid control. Still, it then left this issue out of the scope of its analysis. However, I argue that the problem of Member States curtailing media pluralism can be addressed by rethinking State aid and services of general economic interest (SGEI) rules and their application in combination with the Audiovisual Services Directive an effective monitoring system.

Keywords: Media pluralism; internal market; State aid

JEL Classification: K21