European Media Ownership Monitor launches its website
The European Media Ownership Monitor (EurOMo) monitors media ownership transparency in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. It provides a database with information on ownership and control of the most relevant news media in these countries, but also publishes country reports that assess the level of transparency of this information.
In addition, the project analyses on the one hand the degree of transparency of the media with regard to who controls and influences them, and on the other hand the areas where there are risks for transparency with regard to who controls and influences the dissemination of information.
The project covers the most relevant media, which have been selected in terms of demand (market share) and/or agenda (quotation and/or recommendation by other news services). The samples include both national and regional media. All data was collected from publicly available sources.
Furthermore, the project website provides a media literacy workshop tool kit for students aged 16-18, available in nine languages.
Currently, the EurOMo is a pilot project that will progressively expand in order to cover all EU member states. The remaining Member States are being analysed in the second phase of the project, which started in October 2022 and will be completed in September 2023.
The EurOMo project is run by a consortium of 15 Higher Education Institutions and research institutes, coordinated by the University of Salzburg. It is co-funded by the European Commission as part of the European Democracy Action Plan.