media lab | Podcast Season: 1 - Episode: 8 / Release date: 22-11-2022

1:1 with Damian Tambini
London School of Economics

Episode Highlights

00:00 Intro

01:31 Q1 - What does (protecting) media freedom mean to you?

04:46 Q2 - What should the EU legislators do or do better to protect media freedom?

11:46 Q3 - What are the pitfalls that EU legislators should avoid when trying to protect the media and its freedom?

17:46 You have 2 minutes to deliver a message to the powers that be in the EU: make your case.

20:18 Outro

Key Quotes

"Protecting media freedom is really the same thing as protecting democracy (...) because the attacks on media freedom are really part of a global assault on democracy."

1 / 10

"The way, particularly in post authoritarian countries, media systems are regulated or failed to be regulated, is creating a lot of fragmentation within the EU and (...) European Single Market."

2 / 10

"The European Single Market is increasingly threatened (...) by a lack of regulatory cooperation between regulators."

3 / 10

"There is an economic cost to a problem with media freedom, there's also a democratic cost."

4 / 10

"State advertising, and regulation [and] independence of public service media, have been (...) key problems (...) in terms of the democratic implications of a lack of media freedom [and] (...) impacts on the Single Market."

5 / 10

"The independence of regulatory authorities and (...) public broadcasters (...) has been threatened in certain European countries, and the European standards of independence really need to be better protected."

6 / 10

"Trust and support of citizens is important: we're living in an age of distrust (...) about where certain messages come from. And fundamental to that, is an idea of who the media ultimately are working for."

7 / 10

"There are going to be challenges from particular Member States who have established control over media sectors. (...) attempts to say that this is an attack on media freedom by the EC or an attempt to control the EC by the media."

8 / 10

"We need to think about [media literacy] in a more radical way, think about wider public understanding of who the media are working for."

9 / 10

"We need to much more adequately support media ownership transparency and independence, and the indepence of public service media. (...) Support independent monitoring of media freedom much more adequately."

10 / 10

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About Our Guest

Dr. Damian Tambini | Associate Professor Department of Media and Communications - London School of Economics

Dr. Damian Tambini is Distinguished Policy Fellow, and Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE, where he also serves as Programme Director for the MSc Media and Communications (Governance). He is the author of many articles on media and communications regulation and policy, as well as the author and editor of several books. His most recent book is ‘Media Freedom’, published in 2021, which was described as essential reading by European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová over the summer. As an expert in media and communications regulation and policy, Dr. Tambini is frequently called to give evidence to parliamentary committees and provide formal and informal policy advice to governments and international organisations.

Relevant Resources

‘Media Freedom’ (2021)

Dr. Damian Tambini

1:1 with Damian TambiniLondon School of Economics