Overview
The Media Pluralism Monitor 2022 (MPM2022) is a scientific and holistic effort to document the health of media ecosystems, detailing threats to media pluralism and freedom in European Union member states and some candidate countries.
The MPM2022 covers the year 2021. This is the fifth MPM EU-wide implementation. The assessed risk scores for various indicators and sub-indicators are grouped as Low (0 – 33%), Medium (34-66%) and High (67-100%) in the text and data visualisations to aid comprehension. The findings highlight the risks for media pluralism and media freedom in the four major areas encompassed by the MPM: Fundamental protection, Market plurality, Political independence and Social inclusiveness. The study comprises the European Union Member States as well as candidate countries, Albania, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.
The MPM 2022 has confirmed the findings of the previous four rounds of monitoring – showing that none of the countries analysed is free from risks to media pluralism.
Explore the report
Country reports
Each country report, except for Turkey, is available in English and the national language. Both the English version and the translations are downloadable on the report’s page.
Selected findings
- A better score with regard to the protection of the right to information resulted from the transposition into national law of the EU directive on the protection of whistleblowers. By contrast, working conditions for journalists continue to deteriorate due to an increased number of SLAPPs, threats, hate speech, surveillance – particularly online.
- Content moderation by online platforms is worrying due to the lack of transparency in the filtering, removal, and blocking process.
- The Market Plurality area had already shifted towards high risk in 2021, reflecting the growing economic threats to media pluralism. The main driver of risk in the past years has been the decline in advertising revenues for news media. The economic crisis – related to the COVID-19 impact – and the digital platforms’ dominance in the online advertising market contributed to raise the risk in the indicator of Media viability. The MPM2022 confirmed this trend: Market concentration in the traditional media sector is increasing, combined with the rising market power of a few digital intermediaries.
- The first signs of post-covid economic recovery can be found in the rising media revenues; however, it hasn’t translated in better working conditions for journalists.
- Public support to the media helped the recovery, but remains ineffective in promoting innovation in a struggling sector.
- Improved transparency in media ownership resulted from the transposition of the Anti-money laundering directive.
- Political Independence area is at high risk in 7 countries.
- Political and commercial interference in the media remains a serious concern, especially with regards to PMS governance and funding and state advertisement, in particular in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe.
- Slight but notable improvements were reported in the area of social inclusiveness, despite the persistent underrepresentation of women.
- Risks in the online sphere are often higher, due to the difficulty in effectively adapting the regulatory framework.
Data sets
A message from our Director
The MPM clearly demonstrates the present fragility of media pluralism in Europe in view of the arduous recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing digital disruption”, said Professor Pier Luigi Parcu. “While it is evident that we need professional, quality journalism now more than ever, we are increasingly seeing incidents of violence against journalists, online threats, and economic uncertainty. A modest recovery of media markets has not benefitted the working conditions of journalists, harming their ability to perform their essential role in society at the service of our democratic discourse.
CMPF Director, Professor Pier Luigi Parcu
Errata corrige
7 September 2023. A mistake has been spotted in the MPM 2022 data collection for Poland. Variable 181 was wrongly coded a low risk. The risk has thus been revised a high risk.