Editorial 2020-9

IRIS 2020-9:1/1

Francisco Javier Cabrera Blázquez

European Audiovisual Observatory

One of the many things that the pandemic has changed is the way we communicate and network. In the pre-COVID world, we were used to meeting physically, shaking hands and talking to each other in person. Now that the coronavirus makes this very natural need for human contact less advisable, technology is jumping to the rescue, providing us with a useful surrogate in the form of videoconferencing. It is certainly not the same, but it is still far better than nothing!

As a recent example of this, the European Audiovisual Observatory organised a conference to present and discuss the findings of a Mapping report on the assessment and the labelling of the nationality of European audiovisual works, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, with a view to exploring possible ways to simplify the often complicated work of both the stakeholders and the institutions involved in this exercise. The video of the conference is available here.

On the subject of online events, in our previous newsletter, we announced that on 24 September 2020 the European Audiovisual Observatory was organising an online Focus Session on the topic of “Regulation and Responsibility of Video-Sharing Platforms” as part of the “Pluralism and Responsibility. Media in the Digital Society” digital conference series, under the auspices of the German Presidency of the European Union. Now you can watch this interesting online event here.

In the meantime, many EU member states are working hard to transpose the revised AVMSD, and this newsletter bears witness to that, reporting on the most recent bills in France and Slovenia (see also our overview table here). Moreover, this newsletter reports on the bill amending the Dutch Media Act in order to strengthen the future of public broadcasting; the proposed legislation to modify the functions of the BBC and privatise Channel 4; the CSA contribution to the public consultation on the Digital Services Act package; and many other interesting issues!

Stay safe and enjoy your read!

 

Maja Cappello, editor

European Audiovisual Observatory