IIC Italy Chapter Workshop (in person)- The protection of information pluralism in Italy to the test of the digital ecosystem

28 October 2022
Time: 10:00 CEST (in person)

The idea of organizing a moment of reflection on pluralism and its legal safeguards stems from recent developments in the regulatory framework at the national and EU level, together with the profound changes in the media and technological landscape.

On the regulatory front, on January 10, 2022, the European Commission published a public consultation on a “European Media Freedom Act” (EMFA). The text of a Regulation has been recently published and it aims to harmonize safeguards for media pluralism and independence in the EU market.

On the Italian side, in November 2021, the TUSMA – the sectoral code – was adopted, transposing the AVMS Directive (Audiovisual Media Services) and intervening, among other things, precisely on the rules to safeguard media pluralism.

The workshop aims to triangulate the point of view of different professionals, to compare the notion of “media pluralism” at the doctrinal level, in the recent regulatory codification, and in the experience of media operators, verifying the resilience of such definitions and legal safeguards of pluralism to the test of the digital ecosystem.

In addition, the conference aims to gather the most advanced research and market experiences for the development of an “operational” translation of the informational pluralism. This is also in light of the ever-changing consumption habits and forms of audience engagement with media and informational content. The TUSMA itself, in the Article 51, indicates the criteria to be taken into account in order to determine whether an enterprise or group of enterprises is in a situation of significant market power potentially detrimental to pluralism, and it introduces for the first time a reference to the “indicators of diffusion” of programs.

This configures a novel methodological challenge, given the multimedia and convergent nature of most media companies, the different means of content distribution, and the distinct metrics involved.

Finally, a secondary and further purpose of the workshop is to produce results to be presented at the IIC Annual Conference in Ottawa, so as to contribute to this important forum with the Italian approach to pluralism.

More details coming soon.