The Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM), part of the European Commission’s Digital Single Market strategy, is designed to identify potential risks for media pluralism in the EU Member States. After an initial study in 2009 and two pilot test implementations in 2014 and 2015, the European Parliament decided to support further European-wide studies, which have been carried out since 2016. According to President Ursula von der Leyen, the MPM should be used "to identify risks to plurality in the media sector", and to "propose cross-border projects to support independent and diverse journalistic activities”. The MPM is a key source of information for the European Commission, which relies on the findings to draw up its yearly Rule of Law Report.
Since 2014, CMC is the Austrian partner of MPM.
Full reports:
Funding
Co-funded by the EU
EC Grant Agreement LC-01871274 — CNECT/2022/4365314 (until 2026)
Cooperation Partners
Mag. Vera Wolf, Association of Austrian Community Broadcasters (2023)
Dr. Helga Schwarzwald, Association of Austrian Community Broadcasters (2015-2022, 2024-)
European University Institute, Florence – Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) (Coordinator)
Panel of Experts (the composition of the panel changes as a result of changes in CMPF's requirements):
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Walter Berka (†), University of Salzburg (2015-2020)
Dr. Ilse Brandner-Radinger, Former Chair of the Viewers' and Listeners' Council [Publikumsrat], ORF (2017-2018)
Dr. Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, "Der Standard"/IPI (2015-2017)
Josef Gruber, Verband der Regionalmedien (VRM) [Association of Regional Media] (2021-)
Mag. Dieter Henrich, Verband der Regionalmedien Österreichs (2015-2020)
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Michael Holoubek, Institute for Austrian and European Public Law, Vienna University of Economics and Business (2021-)
Dr. Daniela Kraus, Presseclub Concordia (2015-)
Dr. Maximilian Schubert, Internet Service Providers Austria (ISPA) (2020)
Dr. Helga Schwarzwald, Association of Austrian Community Broadcasters (2015-2022)
PD Dr. Christian Steininger, University of Vienna (2015-2018)
Mag. Vera Wolf, Association of Austrian Community Broadcasters (2023-)
Daniela Zimmer, Chamber of Labour/Viewers' and Listeners' Council [Publikumsrat], ORF (since 2019)
In the Media
European Federation of Journalists and European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) on "Media, Freedom of Speech, and Democracy in the EU and Beyond"
Publications and Lectures
Books and Monographs
Articles and Book Chapters
Articles and Book Chapters
- . (2024). Austrian Constitutional Court mandates reform of ORF law to ensure independence and pluralism. (Report for the IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory, Ed.), IRIS Merlin - Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.
- . (2024). Evolution of space and geography in media pluralism: A typology of community media in the European Union. In E. Brogi, Nenadić, I., & Parcu, P. L. (Eds.), Media pluralism in the digital era: Legal, economic, social, and political lessons learnt from Europe (pp. 149-164). New York, London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003437024
- . (2024). Monitoring des Medienpluralismus im digitalen Zeitalter: Anwendung des "Media Pluralism Monitor" in den EU-Mitgliedstaaten und Kandidatenländern im Jahr 2023. Länderstudie: Österreich. In . Florence: Florence: European University Institute – Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF). doi:10.2870/98299
- . (2024). Regulierung, Governance und Medienethik in der digitalen Gesellschaft. In Regulierung, Governance und Medienethik in der digitalen Gesellschaft (p. v-vi). Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-42478-7
- . (2023). Monitoring media pluralism in the digital era: Application of the Media Pluralism Monitor in the European Union, Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey in the year 2022. Country report: Austria. In . Florence: European University Institute – Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF). doi:10.2870/329744
- . (2023). Monitoring des Medienpluralismus im digitalen Zeitalter: Anwendung des "Media Pluralism Monitor" in der Europäischen Union, Albanien, Montenegro, der Republik Nordmazedonien, Serbien und der Türkei im Jahr 2022. Länderstudie: Österreich. In . Florence: European University Institute – Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF). doi:10.2870/156065
- . (2022). Monitoring media pluralism in the digital era: Application of the Media Pluralism Monitor in the European Union, Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey in the year 2021. (European University Institute – Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), Ed.), Country report: Austria. doi:10.2870/156065
- . (2022). Monitoring des Medienpluralismus im Digitalen Zeitalter: Anwendung des ‘Media pluralism monitor' in der Europäischen Union, Albanien, Montenegro, der Republik Nordmazedonien, Serbien und der Türkei im Jahr 2021. Länderstudie: Österreich. (European University Institute – Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), Ed.). Florence. doi:10.2870/55437
- . (2022). Gewappnet für die Zukunft? Öffentlich-rechtlicher Rundfunk in Österreich [Ready for the future? Public Broadcasting in Austria]. In Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Ed.), Wie steht es um den öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk in Europa?. Bonn: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Retrieved from http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/a-p-b/18777-20220307.pdf
- . (2021). Country Report: Austria. In Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (Ed.), Monitoring media pluralism in the digital era: Application of the Media Pluralism Monitor in the European Union, Albania, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia & Turkey in the year 2020. Florence: European University Institute. doi:10.2870/764424
- . (2021). Safety of journalists in Austria. In M. Žuffová & Carlini, R. (Eds.), Safety of journalists in Europe: Threats and best practices to tackle them (EUI Working Paper RSC 2021/43) (pp. 23-30). Florence: European University Institute. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1814/70637
- . (2020). Country Report: Austria. In Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (Ed.), Monitoring media pluralism in the digital era: Application of the Media Pluralism Monitor in the European Union, Albania, and Turkey in the years 2018-2019. Florence: European University Institute. doi:10.2870/90284
- . (2019). Recent developments on freedom and pluralism of media in Austria. In A. Giannakopoulos (Ed.), Media, Freedom of Speech, and Democracy in the EU and Beyond (pp. 116-130). Tel Aviv: S. Daniel Abraham Center for International and Regional Studies, Tel Aviv University. Retrieved from https://dacenter.tau.ac.il/sites/abraham.tau.ac.il/files/Media%2C%20Freedom%20of%20Speech%20Text_0.pdf
- . (2018). Country report: Austria. In Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (Ed.), Monitoring media pluralism in Europe: Application of the Media Pluralism Monitor 2017 in the European Union, FYROM, Serbia & Turkey. Florence: European University Institute. doi:10.2870/06449
- . (2018). Informations- und Meinungsfreiheit: Medienpolitische Grundlagen und Herausforderungen [Freedom of information and speech in Austria: Fundamentals of and challenges to media policy]. In H. Koziol (Ed.), Tatsachenmitteilungen und Werturteile: Freiheit und Verantwortung (pp. 13-26). Wien: Sramek.
- . (2017). Country report: Austria. In Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (Ed.), Media Pluralism Monitor 2016: Monitoring risks for media pluralism in the EU and beyond. Florence: European University Institute. doi:10.2870/182241
- . (2016). Austria 2015. In Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (Ed.), Media Pluralism Monitor 2015 - Results. Florence: European University Institute. Retrieved from https://cmpf.eui.eu/mpm-2015/austria-2015
Research Papers
Research Papers
Lectures
Lectures
-
24/10/2024
, Wien
Seethaler, J.
Pluralität und Diversität von Medienlandschaften [Plurality and diversity of media landscapes]
Medienfreiheit und Demokratie. Roundtable der Österreichischen UNESCO-Kommission -
12/10/2023
, Zürich
Seethaler, Josef
Medienstrukturen revisited
Medienstrukturen revisited. Recht – Markt – Akteure – Gesellschaft -
29/03/2023
, Klagenfurt
Beaufort, M.
Komparatives Medienmonitoring – Was? Wie? Wozu?
Workshop Medienmonitoring at University of Klagenfurt -
16/03/2023
, Wien
Beaufort, M.
Medienpluralismus und Medienfreiheit. Einblicke in gegenwärtige Herausforderungen anhand des Media Pluralism Monitor der Europäischen Union.
CMC Talk mit Maren Beaufort at Austrian Academy of Sciences -
07/12/2022
, Eichstätt
Beaufort, Maren
Media Pluralism in Europe.
Presentation at the Workshop of Journalism Innovations (JoinS). -
31/01/2020
, Florence
Seethaler, Josef Beaufort, Maren
Country Report Austria
Media Pluralism Monitor 2020: Final Conference at the European University Institute -
19/11/2018
, Tel Aviv
Seethaler, Josef Beaufort, Maren
Recent developments on freedom and pluralism of media in Austria
"Media, Freedom of Speech, and Democracy: Contemporary Conflicts and Tensions in the EU and Beyond: Conference of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for International and Regional Studies, Tel Aviv Univ. in coop. with The Austrian Society for European Politics -
09/05/2017
, Athens
Beaufort, Maren Seethaler, Josef
Community medias` "added value": The case of Austria
Communication and Mass Media -
21/04/2016
, Wien
Beaufort, Maren
Demokratie, Medienpluralismus und die Rolle des nicht-kommerziellen privaten Rundfunks [Democracy, media pluralism, and the role of community media]
REM-Workshop – Der nicht-kommerzielle private Rundfunk
Popular Publications
Popular Publications
- . (2024). Vorhandenes vorsichtig zu verändern, reicht jetzt nicht mehr [Interview] [Changing existing cautiously is no longer enough]. Horizont. Manstein Verlag, 17-19. Retrieved from https://www.horizont.at/epaper/horizont/859/epaper/1424/index.html
- . (2024). Die demokratische Rolle von Community Medien im lokalen Raum [The democratic role of community media in the local media landscape]. Horizont. Wien: Manstein Verlag, k.A.
- . (2023). Regionaler Journalismus ist die Zukunft des Journalismus [Interview mit Michael Prock]. Vorarlberger Nachrichten. Retrieved from https://www.vol.at/regionaler-journalismus-ist-die-zukunft-des-journalismus/8461036
- . (2023). ORF-Novelle: Medienforscher bemängelt fehlendes Gesamtkonzept. Josef Seethaler: Neue Vorgaben zur "Blauen Seite" gehen in "falsche Richtung" - Kritik an Verknüpfung von neuer Finanzierung mit Sparmaßnahmen. Apa-Basisdienst.
- . (2023). Wissenschafter Josef Seethaler zur ORF-Reform: "Unausgegoren und dilettantisch" [Interview mit Astrid Ebenführer]. Derstandard.at. Retrieved from https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000143804387/wissenschafter-josef-seethaler-zur-orf-reform-unausgegoren-und-dilettantisch
- . (2021). Fachleute statt Politiker und mehr Investigativjournalismus: Wissenschafter Josef Seethaler über den ORF [Experts instead of politicians and more investigative journalism - about ORF]. Standard.at. Retrieved from https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000129615873/fachleute-statt-politiker-und-mehr-investigativjournalismus-wissenschafter-josef-seethaler-ueber
- . (2021). Quo vadis media pluralism in Europe? A contextualization from an Austrian perspective. Ögfe Policy Brief (Österreichische Gesellschaft Für Europapolitik), 2021. Retrieved from http://www.oegfe.at/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PB-092021-1.pdf
- . (2020). Wissenschafter Beaufort und Seethaler befürchten "Fortschreibung bisheriger Medienpolitik" 2021 [Befragung durch Harald Fidler und Daniela Yeoh]. Derstandard.at. Retrieved from https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000122801503/wissenschafter-beaufort-und-seethaler-befuerchten-fortschreibung-der-bisherigen-medienpolitik-2021
- . (2019). Österreich und diese Kleinigkeit namens Informationsfreiheit. Derstandard.at. Retrieved from https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000097014042/oesterreich-und-diese-kleinigkeit-namens-informationsfreiheit
- . (2017). "Hohe Gefahr bei Kontrolle der Politik über die Medien" (online unter dem Titel: "Es fehlt jede Form der Medienpolitik"). Interview. Der Standard. Retrieved from http://derstandard.at/2000052871597/Hohe-Gefahr-bei-Kontrolle-der-Politik-ueber-Medien
Popular Talks
Popular Talks
-
01/12/2023
Seethaler, Josef
Öffentlich-rechtlich auf Bewährung [Interview mit Viktoria Waldegger]
Ö1 #doublecheck -
03/10/2022
Beaufort, Maren
Bedeutung von Medienpluralismus für demokratische Gesellschaften [Media Pluralism in Democratic Societies]
Conference “Kritische Medienkompetenz 2022” of the Bundesinstitut für Erwachsenenbildung (bifeb)