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In a judgment of 20 September 2001, the Brussels civil court banned a television programme of the commercial television station RTL-TVI. The film was a reconstruction of a hostage-taking and escape attempt by a prisoner, Peter C., who was sentenced to death some 20 years ago, but whose sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment (forced labour). The failed escape attempt by Peter C. took place in 1984 and the RTL-TVI programme contained some authentic images from that time, along with images of reconstructed scenes played out by actors, with the main actor bearing a strong resemblance...

In September, the Federal Ministry of the Economy published a draft Telekommunikationsüberwachungsverordnung (Telecommunications Monitoring DecreeTKÜV). The document sets out the principle that operators of telecommunications systems used by the general public should, on request, make full copies of conversations or data carried via those systems available to the State authorities. This obligation also applies to direct Internet access systems, including those using TV cable networks and so-called "powerline technology" (telecommunications services via electricity cable). As part of this requirement,...

In talks held at the end of August between representatives of the Federation and the Länder, basic principles for a restructuring of German media regulations were discussed. As the digitisation of content and transmission networks in the various forms of media continues, the need to re-assign responsibilities at national and regional levels is being discussed. The main areas of concern are the protection of minors, the legal framework for and monitoring of new media services, competition and media concentration regulations, and data protection. According to the model which has been proposed and...

Under the aegis of the Alta Autoridade para a Comunicação Social (the Authority for the Media), the Portuguese national broadcasting operators (RadioTelevisão Portuguesa, Sociedade Independente de Comunicação and Televisão Independente) have signed a self-regulatory protocol in order to safeguard human dignity in television programming. The document had been discussed for quite some time, but it was only on 18 September 2001 that the presidents of all of the television companies' boards agreed to sign it. In the first clause of the agreement (which has a total of seven clauses), the operators...

Monitoring the broadcasters' violations of programme standards, the National Broadcasting Council of Poland (NBC) voiced its criticism concerning the "Big Brother" show and other shows following a similar format, arguing that they may be socially harmful. In its opinion these broadcasts may have negative effect on the behaviour of some viewers. The Council announced in its Standpoint of 22 March 2001 that it would be particularly scrupulous in examining whether such reality show programmes comply with the provisions of the Broadcasting Act. On 18 July 2001, after the initial series of episodes...