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EurOMo Risk Index – 2022

Based on the EurOMo pilot database, consisting of a sample of news media from 15 EU countries. Data reflects situation on 31st May 2022. Read the full methodology. Please inform us if you find any mistake.

Overall risks

This index ranks countries of the EurOMo pilot monitoring according to the performance of their news media in key areas for upholding transparency in media ownership and control. This rank considers national samples of news media. Data reflects situation on 31st May 2022. For detailed explaination, read the full methodology.
 
The assessment occurs in three areas: news production, news distribution, and public policy. 3 means good performance and low risk; 0 means bad performance and very high risk. See below the indicators that compose each area.

Hover over the dimensions and their lables to highlight them. Click on the labels to select or deselect a whole dimension.

No Data Found

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Country Production Distribution Regulation INDEX
AT 1,92 2,84 2,18 2,31
SE 2,55 2,74 1,55 2,28
DK 2,53 2,42 1,61 2,19
DE 1,87 2,51 1,90 2,09
NL 1,98 2,92 1,00 1,97
BE 2,07 2,52 1,15 1,91
Average 1,84 2,22 1,54 1,86
ES 1,67 1,93 1,75 1,78
GR 1,95 1,62 1,46 1,68
SI 1,31 2,38 1,35 1,68
IT 1,39 1,99 1,61 1,66
LT 1,70 2,03 1,13 1,62
PT 1,67 1,17 1,98 1,61
CZ 1,25 1,80 1,29 1,45
HU 1,06 1,23 1,25 1,18

Indicators

In the pilot EurOMo Risk Index 2022, each area is composed of several risk indicators, which are individually assessed. The aggregated score of the dimension is reached after weighting the indicators. Read the full methodology for details.

News production

The area of news production is composed of four dimensions: legal ownership, economic control, management, and relations.

Legal ownership

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  • Hidden ownership: Media outlets whose legal structure ensures control of news media by individuals and/or families without appearing as legal owners (e.g., private foundations, family investment funds)
  • Contested ownership: Media outlets whose legal ownership is publicly contested (e.g., legal owners are “stooges”, “front men” or“straw men”)
  • Foreign ownership – national: Media outlets whose legal owners are based in other national jurisdictions
  • Foreign ownership – EU: Media outlets whose legal owners are based outside the EU
  • Transparency score – Legal ownership: Media outlets whose direct and beneficial owners are informed on their websites

Economic control

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Country Non-media ownership
Weight: 0,4		 Cross-ownership distribution-production
Weight: 0,3		 Transparency score – Economic control
Weight: 0,3		 SUBTOTAL
SE 2 2 2,47 2,14
DK 3 0 1,36 1,61
AT 0 3 2,26 1,58
DE 0 3 1,70 1,41
IT 0 3 1,66 1,40
BE 0 3 0,86 1,16
Average 0,38 1,38 1,53 1,03
NL 0 3 0,38 1,01
ES 0 1 1,62 0,79
CZ 0 0 1,99 0,60
PT 0 0 1,65 0,49
HU 0 0 1,48 0,44
SI 0 0 1,42 0,43
LT 0 0 1,39 0,42
GR 0 0 1,18 0,35
  • Non-media ownership: Media outlets whose relevant legal owners have a non-media business as their main economic activity
  • Cross-ownership distribution-production: Media outlets whose owners also operate media distribution companies. This indicator also appears in the risk area of distribution
  • Transparency score – Economic control: Legal owners whose relevant financial data, including public funding, is publicly available

Management

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Country Editorial influence
Weight: 0,5		 Owners in councils
Weight: 0,3		 Transparency score – Management
Weight: 0,2		 SUBTOTAL
SE 3 3 3,0 3,00
DK 3 3 2,4 2,88
GR 3 3 1,2 2,64
NL 2 3 2,4 2,38
BE 2 3 2,4 2,38
ES 2 3 1,8 2,25
Average 1,23 2,77 2,27 1,90
IT 1 2 3,0 1,69
SI 0 3 3,0 1,50
PT 0 3 3,0 1,50
HU 0 3 2,0 1,30
CZ 0 3 2,0 1,29
AT 0 3 1,7 1,24
LT 0 3 1,4 1,19
DE 0 1 2,3 0,76
  • Editorial influence: Breaches of editorial independence by owners, advertisers, and economic managers
  • Owners in councils: Presence of media owners in media councils
  • Transparency score – Management: Information about CEO (or other similar economic management positions) and editorial responsibility on the outlets’ websites

Relations

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Country Political relations
Weight: 0,2		 Related persons
Weight: 0,2		 Affiliation – media outlets
Weight: 0,2		 Affiliation – legal persons
Weight: 0,1		 Affiliation – natural persons
Weight: 0,1		 Transparency score – Relations
Weight: 0,2		 SUBTOTAL
NL 3 3 3 2 3 3,0 2,90
BE 3 3 3 2 3 3,0 2,90
DK 2 3 3 3 3 3,0 2,80
DE 1 3 3 3 3 3,0 2,60
LT 2 2 3 3 3 3,0 2,60
AT 2 3 1 3 3 3,0 2,40
SE 0 3 3 3 3 3,0 2,40
GR 2 3 2 3 2 2,4 2,38
Average 1,38 2,54 1,85 2,08 2,15 2,64 2,11
PT 1 2 1 3 2 2,9 1,89
ES 0 2 1 2 2 2,6 1,52
CZ 1 3 1 0 1 1,5 1,40
HU 3 2 0 0 1 0,0 1,11
SI 1 1 0 0 0 2,7 0,94
IT 0 2 0 0 0 1,3 0,65
  • Political relations: Politically exposed persons (PEPs) in official documents and registers
  • Related persons: Media outlets whose owners have related persons (spouse, parent, sibling, child) in politics
  • Affiliation – media outlets: Media outlets affiliated to external institutions (political party, church, interest group)
  • Affiliation – legal persons: Media owners (legal persons) affiliated to external institutions (political party, church, interest group)
  • Affiliation – natural persons: Media owners (natural persons) affiliated to external institutions (political party, church, interest group)
  • Transparency score – Relations: Self-disclosure on the outlets’ or legal owners’ websites about affiliation to external institutions (political party, church, interest group)

News distribution

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Country Print distribution Radio distribution TV distribution Internet access Cross-ownership distribution-production Net neutrality infringement Non-linear news use Content curation criteria Commercial agreements TOTAL
NL 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0 2,92
AT 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 0 2,84
SE 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 1 2 2,74
BE 3 3 3 1 3 3 3 3 0 2,52
DE 3 3 3 3 3 0 3 2 2 2,51
DK 3 3 3 3 0 3 2 1 2 2,42
SI 2 2 3 3 0 3 3 1 2 2,38
Average 2,77 2,15 2,85 2,23 1,38 2,23 2,38 1,46 1,15 2,22
LT 3 1 3 1 0 3 3 0 2 2,03
IT 1 2 2 1 3 3 2 2 1 1,99
ES 3 1 3 3 1 0 3 3 1 1,93
CZ 3 3 2 3 0 2 1 1 1 1,80
GR 3 1 3 1 0 3 0 1 2 1,62
HU 3 1 0 3 0 2 1 0 0 1,23
PT 3 1 3 1 0 0 2 0 0 1,17
  • Print distribution: Availability of distribution infrastructure of print media and discrimination of access
  • Radio distribution: Diversity of distribution infrastructure of radio (FM, AM, DAB, DAB+) and competititon between providers
  • TV distribution: Diversity of distribution infrastructure of broadcast TV (DTT, CATV, IPTV, DTH) and competititon between providers
  • Internet access: Internet connectivity and competition between providers
  • Cross-ownership distribution-production: Media outlets whose owners also operate media distribution companies
  • Net neutrality infringement: Cases of net neutrality infringements (according to articles 3 and 4 of the TSM Regulation
  • Non-linear news use: News use via digital intermediaries in comparison with other sources such as direct online access and print/broadcast distribution
  • Content curation criteria: Disclosure of criteria for content curation by relevant digital intermediaries for news use
  • Commercial agreements: Disclosure of commercial agreements that influence content curation

Public policy

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Country Transposition of Art. 5 of the AVMSD Coverage of media sectors Level of information Requirements for updates Information disclosure request State/public funding NRAs for media ownership transparency Enforcement and sanctions (transparency) Anti-concentration provisions Qualitative and quantitative limits NRAs for media mergers Enforcement and sanctions (concentration) Government overrule Newsroom independence Legal provisions for PSM Must carry provisions Provisions for content curation Exposure rules NRAs for content curation Enforcement and sanctions (content curation) TOTAL
AT 2 3 3 3 0 3 3 3 2 3 1 2 3 0 1 3 0 0 3 3 2,18
PT 2 2 3 3 1 2 3 3 1 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 0 3 0 0 1,98
DE 3 2 3 1 3 0 3 3 2 2 3 3 1 0 2 2 1 1 2 1 1,90
ES 0 2 1 1 2 2 1 3 1 3 2 3 3 1 1 3 2 1 1 3 1,75
DK 2 3 3 3 0 1 2 3 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 1,61
IT 3 3 3 3 3 1 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 0 0 0 1,61
SE 0 1 2 3 0 2 3 3 0 0 1 3 3 2 3 2 0 0 3 0 1,55
Average 1,77 1,85 2,15 2,31 1,31 1,62 2,38 2,69 1,38 1,54 1,46 2,38 2,15 0,85 1,08 2,62 0,38 0,38 1,00 0,62 1,54
GR 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1,46
SI 1 2 1 3 2 0 1 3 3 2 2 3 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 1,35
CZ 1 2 1 3 0 1 2 3 1 2 1 3 3 2 0 3 0 0 2 0 1,29
HU 2 2 2 3 0 0 2 3 3 2 2 3 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1,25
BE 2 0 1 1 0 2 3 1 1 1 1 3 3 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 1,15
LT 3 2 3 3 0 2 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 1,13
NL 2 0 1 0 3 2 3 1 0 1 1 2 2 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 1,00
  • Transposition of Art. 5 of the AVMSD: national implementation of Art. 5 of the AVMSD
  • Coverage of media sectors: media sectors covered by laws that require disclosure of information regarding direct and beneficial owner(s)
  • Level of information: level of information depth required by the national legal framework about media ownership and control
  • Requirements for updates: requirement of periodical updating of ownership information upon change
  • Information disclosure request: level of accessibility to information disclosure requests for relevant media ownership data
  • State/public funding: obligation to disclose information on media funding provided by state/public institutions
  • NRAs for media ownership transparency: Existence of national regulatory authorities (NRAs) or other designated bodies responsible for media ownership issues
  • Enforcement and sanctions (transparency): enforcement of compliance to the AVMSD or other relevant legislation by NRAs (from monitoring to sanction)
  • Anti-concentration provisions: media sectors covered by anti-concentration provisions
  • Qualitative and quantitative limits: provisions for media concentration
  • NRAs for media mergers: existence of NRAs or other designated bodies responsible for the control of ownership concentration issues
  • Enforcement and sanctions (concentration): enforcement of limitations of concentration
  • Government overrule: role of the governement in anti-concentration decisions taken by NRAs
  • Newsroom independence: provisions for ensuring newsroom independence from owners and economic management in editorial issues
  • Legal provisions for PSM: provisions for the role of state/government in defining the board of public service media
  • Must carry provisions: must-carry rules for content in the public interest or contribute to political, cultural, or geographical diversity
  • Provisions for content curation: provisions for transparency of curation criteria, commercial arrangements between digital intermediaries and news providers, and alternatives to standard content curation
  • Exposure rules: provisions for exposure of public interest content in content curation (discoverability and prominence) of digital intermediaries
  • NRAs for content curation: existence of NRAs or other designated bodies responsible for content curation at the national level
  • Enforcement and sanctions (content curation): enforcement of provisions for content curation

Report 2022

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All Findings

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The EurOMo is a pilot project co-funded by the European Commission to monitor media ownership transparency in Europe. It is operated by a consortium higher education institutions (HEIs) and research institutes, coordinated by the University of Salzburg.

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Project Coordination

Prof. Josef Trappel
[email protected], +43 8044 4167

Dr. Tales Tomaz
[email protected], +43 8044 4195

Dept. of Communication Studies
University of Salzburg
Rudolfskai 42, 5020 Salzburg, Austria

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