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At the beginning of 2007, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) adopted five country-specific Resolutions in the context of the Second Monitoring Cycle of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). The Resolutions contain a number of provisions concerning the (audiovisual) media (for similar provisions in earlier country-specific Resolutions, see IRIS 2006-2: 4). In respect of Finland, the CM notes that radio programmes in minority languages, “while limited in their scope, have become important tools in the promotion and protection of minority cultures”....

The public broadcasters and the Landesmedienanstalten ( Land media authorities) have agreed a set of guidelines on the use of digital frequencies. At the 2006 Regional Radiocommunication Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), it was decided that the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting in Europe should be completed by 2015 and that broadcasting frequencies should be re-organised as a result. The German Federal Government and the Länder subsequently asked the public service broadcasters and Landesmedienanstalten to prepare for the implementation of these plans...

Two recent court decisions have significantly strengthened the position of German journalists who request information from official bodies and companies. According to a ruling by the Verwaltungsgericht Arnsberg (Arnsberg Administrative Court) of 12 December 2006, the provision on the right of the press to information contained in the Landespressegesetz Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia Press Act) represents a final regulation, which supersedes municipal law provisions on fees and charges (case no. 11 K 2574/06). A local authority decision to charge a journalist EUR 24.60 to answer questions,...

In a judgment of 9 January 2007, the Bayerische Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Bavarian Administrative Court - VGH) decided that the Bayerische Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst (Bavarian Ministry for Science, Research and Art) could not, as part of its official monitoring activities, instruct the Land media authority, the Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (Bavarian State Central Office for New Media - BLM) to prohibit the broadcasting of unlawful advertising on the channels for which it was responsible. The case concerned the dispute over the admissibility of advertising...

On 15 December 2006, the European Competition Commissioner and the Minister-Presidents of the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate and Bavaria announced, in a joint press statement, that an agreement had been reached in the state aid procedure concerning the financing and remit of public service broadcasting in Germany (see IRIS 1997-9: 13 and IRIS 2006-6: 10). This compromise, which had been announced in summer 2006 but had been called into question several times by the end of the year, should now mark the end of the procedure. Under the agreement, Germany will propose concrete measures, particularly...