MEDIA FREEDOM AND PLURALISM IN THE EU MECHANISM OF THE RULE OF LAW AND REQUIREMENTS FOR UKRAINE

Abstract

The article deals with the importance of media freedom and pluralism among justice, anti-corruption and institutional issues of the system of checks and balances as the four pillars of the rule of law of the European Union. The main institution of the EU in ensuring the functioning of the mechanism of the rule of law is the European Commission, whose activities are directed through the appropriate European Commissioner – the Vice President for Values and Transparency. The author has highlighted the activity of the EU institutions in interaction with unofficial entities, which include non-governmental media and human rights associations, regarding the monitoring of the state of media freedom and pluralism in this mechanism by means of law-making and law enforcement. Based on the results of the monitoring of member states and candidate countries by the European Commission, an annual report on the rule of law is prepared according to the developed methodology. The methodology regarding the state of media freedom and pluralism includes such evaluation criteria as the independence of the functioning of media regulators, transparency of media ownership, protection of the media from political pressure and influence (in particular through the use of state advertising), access to information, safety and protection of journalists, as well as the elimination of legal threats and abuse of public participation trials. The main indicator of the monitoring results is the degree of risk to freedom and pluralism of media, which, despite different indicators for member states and candidate countries – from very low to very high, remains equally dangerous for all states without exception, and increases every year on the basis of which recommendations for each country are formulated. In addition to monitoring, the European Commission has taken legislative measures to protect media organizations and journalists from unjustified interventions and restrictions on the activities of government entities, based on the example of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which is due to enter into force soon. Instead, organizational measures and the sanctioning mechanism for violations of media freedom need to be intensified. The author has emphasized requirements of the EU to Ukraine as a candidate state in terms of guarantees of media freedom based on the results of monitoring and reports of 2022 and 2023.