Follow the Money! Ownership & Financial Transparency should be a Media Policy Standard

The Council and the Commission of the European Union have so far steered clear of initiating new regulations in response to the High Level Group’s report and other recent calls for action on media freedom and plurality. Nevertheless, Media scholar Kristina Irion of the University of Amsterdam and the Central European University argues that the Union could already do much more to improve the situation in counties of the Western Balkan region by making ownership and financial transparency in the media sector a condition of the accession process.