ALIA recently had the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Tobias Schmid, Director of the Landesanstalt für Medien Nordrhein-Westfalen, along with members of his team, Michel Winkels and Sina Voss, for an informal bilateral meeting in Luxembourg.
Discussions focused on several major issues that will shape the future of the European media landscape, including the ongoing review of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), the visibility and discoverability (“prominence rules”) of media services of general interest across various content access points (smart TVs, connected interfaces,
in-vehicle systems, news aggregators, and online platforms), the fairness of the rules applicable to different news providers, media accessibility, and the protection of minors in the digital environment, including in view of the challenges posed by pornographic platforms.
This meeting also provided an opportunity to conduct an initial assessment of the functioning of the Media Board, just over a year after its establishment. The discussions highlighted the growing role that this European cooperation body is called upon to play in addressing the major challenges facing the media: preserving pluralism, combating disinformation, controlling media concentration, and regulating relations between media services and major digital platforms.
These exchanges underscore the importance of close cooperation among European regulators to foster a free, pluralistic media environment adapted to the digital landscape.
