Europe must do more for media and democracy

The author contends that current EU efforts to combat disinformation are insufficient because they rely on member states that may be hostile to critical media. While the EU has introduced some protections for whistleblowers and small-scale grants for investigative projects, the document argues for a permanent funding facility for journalism and a re-evaluation of the subsidiarity principle to allow the EU to intervene more directly in member states where media freedom is under threat.

• The European Commission's current strategy for supporting high-quality journalism relies heavily on member states, which the author argues is ineffective because governments are often reluctant to fund critical voices and tech platforms like Google and Facebook dominate up to 80 per cent of the advertising market.
• EU financial support for journalism is described as inadequate; for example, a call for data-driven journalism on EU affairs offered 1.9 million euros, and a 2018 grant for Investigative Journalism for Europe provided 315,000 euros to 12 projects, covering no more than 70 per cent of investigation costs.
• The EU is reviewing a draft directive to protect whistleblowers, which would safeguard the anonymity of sources and prevent retaliation, addressing risks created by the General Data Protection Regulation adopted in May 2018.
• The author recommends that the EU establish a permanent funding facility for investigative journalism, re-evaluate the subsidiarity principle to better protect media in member states like Poland and Hungary, and require tech platforms to share revenues with quality media via the code of practice on disinformation.

APA

Sadouskaya-Komlach, M. (2019). Europe must do more for media and democracy. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/europe-must-do-more-for-media-and-democracy/

Chicago

Sadouskaya-Komlach, Maryia. Europe must do more for media and democracy. Green European Journal, 2019. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/europe-must-do-more-for-media-and-democracy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Sadouskaya-Komlach |first1=Maryia |title=Europe must do more for media and democracy |publisher=Green European Journal |date=1 February 2019 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/europe-must-do-more-for-media-and-democracy/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{sadouskayakomlach2019europe, author = {Sadouskaya-Komlach, Maryia}, title = {{Europe must do more for media and democracy}}, publisher = {Green European Journal}, year = {2019}, month = feb, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/europe-must-do-more-for-media-and-democracy/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }