Media freedom, Nieri (Mediaset): “The European regulatory framework has defended competitiveness”

Brussels – The latest event, “The European Shield for Democracy and the Strategic Autonomy of the Media”, organised by Connact within the European Parliament, is the round table between companies and MEPs, moderated by Prima Comunicazione director Alessandra Ravetta. The event was opened by Gina Nieri, Board Member of the MFE Group – MediaForEurope (Mediaset’s holding company), fresh from the acquisition of German broadcaster ProSiebenSat. 

“The recent European consolidation operation,” said the manager, “successfully carried out by MediaForEurope has demonstrated the vitality of the broadcasting business and the resilience of a European business model founded on the values of pluralism, professional, transparent, and responsible information, and the defence and promotion of identity culture.” A result that becomes an example in the Union’s panorama and was only possible thanks to what Nieri called “a European regulatory framework that has defended the competitiveness of companies.” 

The rules, however, are sometimes insufficient, especially when the challenge is between technological giants and traditional local publishers. Particularly sensitive to this issue is Lino Morgante, editorial director of Società Editrice Sud, owner of the daily newspapers Gazzetta del Sud and Giornale di Sicilia: “We must imagine the digital infrastructure as a highway. Ours is American. We cannot change the rules because we do not own the framework.”

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On the same wavelength, the 5 Star Movement MEP Gaetano Pedullà: “I spoke several times with Henna Virkkunen (European Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty, ed.) and asked her why, instead of continuing to regulate, we do not invest in creating a European digital framework. She never answered.”

The problem of technological sovereignty is inextricably linked with that of the economic sustainability of information. The unfair practices on social media, capable of disseminating content from traditional media without acknowledging authorship, have a significant impact on the Italian news agency ANSA. Rodolfo Cardarelli, deputy head of the International Business Unit at ANSA, knows something about this: “We often see our content republished on platforms. This happens unduly: we are not recognised for the economic effort required to generate that content.”

In such a complex context, the profitability of media companies is called into question. The MEP
Stefano Cavedagna

(FdI, ECR) is aware of this: “It is very complex when you have to comply with a lot of rules, such as par condicio, and you have to do it by putting in a lot of economic effort. And then, on the other hand, your new competitors are free not to respect it.” Because of this imbalance, for Cavedagna, “public help is needed to redress the issue.”

The critical situation in journalism only partly frightens former journalist Lucia Annunziata. She became an MEP with the Democratic Party list in 2024: “When radio came, journalism had to die, the same thing when television came. Somehow I think there is still a lot of room for journalism.” The Member of Parliament sums up the discussion, recalling that the important thing is not to mix up “the issues we have discussed, such as Artificial Intelligence, content, and journalism, which are often confused. Information, that is journalism, is instead a simple thing: a profession. What we must strive to do is to ennoble it. This can be done by investing in schools and the training of journalists.”

An action that is due not only for the industry but for society. As Rodolfo Cardarelli of ANSA recalled: “There is a 1 to 1 value between democracies and freedom of the press.”