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One of the priorities of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union is Digital Europe with the aim of facilitating initial discussions on the Digital Single Market strategy. Its objectives are to eliminate online borders, build trust and confidence in the media, remove restrictions, ensure access and connectivity, and build a single digital economy.
The Conference agenda focuses on Member States’ experience in the implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive – what bottlenecks have been observed, what problems have seen for the future development and how can they be avoided.
Rapid advances in technology, the emergence of new business models, different technical standards, the perceived threat to media pluralism caused by the concentration of media ownership, challenges to the European media landscape posed by the emergence of new geopolitical situations outside the EU, implementation of the country of origin principle, changing consumer habits – these are the main challenges that the European audiovisual media market faces today.
There will also be working groups at which experts will look at how the independence of media regulators can be strengthened; whether there is a need for a single European standard to ensure technical compatibility; how we can improve consumers’ access to, and the findability of, the content they want; and how to ensure the right balance between freedom of expression and the protection of public security, including the safeguarding of national security and defence in emergency situations.
More than 200 media experts, regulators and policy makers from all EU Member States will take part in the conference. The Latvian Presidency is looking forward to fruitful discussions to find effective common solutions.
The conference is organised by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and the National Electronic Mass Media Council of Latvia, supported and co-funded by the European Commission. This is one of three international conferences organised by the Ministry of Culture under the Latvian Presidency as part of the Annual Creativity Action Week radi!2015 (create!2015) in Latvia.
