[cma-l] EU Parliament approves Report on Community Media

[Salvatore Scifo]

--- Apologies for cross-posting ---

Dear All,
Thursday 25th September 2008 the European Parliament. in plenary session 
in Brussels, approved the report 'Community Media in Europe' 
(A6-0263/2008), rapporteur the Austrian MEP Karin Resetarits (European 
Liberal Democrats (ALDE)), with 471 votes in favour to 42 against.

The provisional edition of the adopted full text can be retrieved at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2008-0456+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

The attendance list of MEPs, and the detailed results of votes can be 
accessed at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/plenary/home.do?date=20080926&tab=LAST&language=EN#
Pdf of the roll-call vote can be accessed directly at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+PV+20080925+RES-RCV+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN

The motion for the report, as voted in the Committee on Culture and 
Education earlier this year, and including
- the motion for a EU Parliament resolution
- the explanatory statement
- the result of the final vote in the Committee
and the full text of the report itself, in word and pdf formats, 
available in all EU official languages, is still available at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A6-2008-0263&language=EN&mode=XML

The European Liberal Democrats group has also published a press release 
on its website at
http://www.alde.eu/index.php?id=42&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=9805&cHash=255e55819f

Full text attached below:

The European Parliament supports Alternative and Community media which 
are vital for social integration
25/09/2008

The European Parliament , meeting in Brussels today for its plenary 
session adopted a report by Karin Resetarits (Die Liberalen, Austria) 
which calls on the European Union to encourage alternative media in 
Europe in order to promote pluralism and cultural diversity.  Stemming 
from the old family of "free radio" and other pirate broadcasting, 
alternative media today is often a community media, addressing a certain 
category of the population for example the Muslim population, senior 
citizens or young people.  They can be distinguished from commercial 
media by the fact that they are not profit-making but purely social, 
linked with their community by the service they provide.  Mrs Resetarits 
would like to see this recognised by the European Commission and the 
Member States. 

"Alternative media does not result in isolating people, on the contrary 
they allow a community to integrate, informing them of their rights, 
especially in the area of education and access to public services but 
also promotes citizens to  take part in active life and listens to their 
problems and concerns.  This type of media is a community tool and 
serves as a cultural and social integration project", says Karin  
Resetarits.

The support measures recommended by Mrs Resetarits are mostly of a 
technical nature, legal (attribution of frequencies) and financial 
(possible financing by the EU).   "I hope that when the European 
Commission publishes in 2009 their Communication on the indicators of 
pluralism in the media, it will take into account our proposals on 
alternative and community media which obviously  contributes and 
promotes  pluralism", concluded Mrs Resetarits.

For more information
Corlett Neil - Tel: +32 2 284 20 77 Mob: +32 478 78 22 84
Laude Yannick - Tel: +32 2 284 31 69 Mob: +32 495 22 78 37
Category: Press Release, media policy
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Full information on this and other recent community media reports, 
research and policy is available on the new version of the website 
www.communitymedia.eu
Any comments and suggestions welcome!

Best Wishes,

Salvo

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Salvatore Scifo
Editor, communitymedia.eu

communitymedia.eu
connecting research>teaching>policy>practice on Community Media in Europe