A recent report warning that pressure on European public service ...

(TVWF) directive, said a spokesman for Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding. Earlier this week, George Soros’s Open Society Initiative (OSI) published a study of the state of TV in 20 European countries, finding that commercialism is hurting PSBs (CD Oct 12 p7). Asked if the report could be used to buttress Reding’s arguments in support of revising the TVWF, the spokesman said many of the 20 countries it covers aren’t in the European Union (EU), and the bulk of the report deals with broadcast issues, while the thrust of the TVWF review is to convert the law to an audiovisual directive that takes into account convergence. Nonetheless, the report’s discussion of PSBs in neighboring countries to the EU, particularly the Balkans, provides the EC with more information on an area in which it’s already working with local PSBs seeking to shift from state-owned to independent broadcasting. The OSI report also analyzed media concentration in the 20 countries and recommended the EC establish an independent agency to monitor media markets. But Reding’s spokesman said the Commission already does that under the TVWF; media pluralism is one of several topics handled by a high-level “fundamental rights” committee. Setting up a new organization would require approval from EU member states who have made it clear that media pluralism is no business of the EC, the spokesman said. The OSI’s proposal isn’t realistic, he said; the best way to ensure pluralism is to beef up the TVWF. Meanwhile, Miklos Haraszti, Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative on freedom of the media, said he agreed “very much” with the report, unsurprising since he wrote the foreword. He acknowledged, however, that some “evaluations of the findings might differ in some cases.” The OSCE Freedom of the Media is already taking action along the lines the OSI suggested, he said.