Newspaper publishers call for press freedom and fair competition!

STOCKHOLM, 5 May 2009 - “Respect press freedom. Support us through the crisis. Create a level playing field for all media.” These are the key messages newspaper publishers and their representatives from across Europe directed to governments and the European institutions in their Stockholm Resolution, adopted at the ENPA Spring General Assembly in Sweden. 

Focusing on the topical issues of press freedom, advertising and public service broadcasting, the Resolution recalls the valuable role newspapers, in print and in the digital environment, play by furnishing Europe’s citizens with comprehensive, quality information, especially valuable during the current turbulent financial crisis.  

Aware that the Resolution has been adopted in the first State to constitutionally guarantee press freedom, newspaper publishers welcomed the European Parliament’s recent decision to exclude media from the scope of the Equal Treatment Directive, as well as calling on policymakers to thoroughly assess the impact of all anti-terrorism legislation on press freedom. 

“Given the importance of advertising revenues to the financing of our free, independent press and in light of the downturn in the advertising market, we have once again united to call on policymakers NOT to propose or extend any mandatory information requirements on advertising, the effect of which would only be to further threaten the viability of our precious industry” stated ENPA President Valdo Lehari jr., Publisher of German regional daily Reutlinger General-Anzeiger. 

On the topic of public service broadcasting, European newspaper publishers agreed on the need for Member States to establish clearly defined remits for public service media and the application of market impact tests for significant new ventures. The duplication of services already provided by the private sector, is not only a waste of taxpayers money, but also threatens the viability of a free and independent commercial press sector. 

Click here to download the full Stockholm Resolution.