Press Freedom threatened by multiple libel actions accross Europe: Media and Journalists urge MEPs to find solutions.

The Cyprus Newspaper & Magazines Publishers Association, ENPA – the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association - and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) strongly condemn the assassination of Andy Hadjicostis, Managing Director of Dias Media Group in Cyprus.

ENPA – European Newspaper Publishers’ Association having its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium and representing over 5.200 national, regional and local newspapers and their online editions in Europe including newspapers in the Czech Republic, is watching very closely the ongoing discussion regarding the Czech "muzzle law" in the Lower House of the Czech Parliament.

BRUSSELS - The European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) takes the opportunity of the occasion of the adoption of Council Conclusions on Media Literacy in the Digital Environment at the Education, Youth and Culture Council on 27 November to highlight the importance of the already well-established contribution of newspapers on all platforms of delivery to the improvement of media literacy to people of all ages.

Newspaper publishers in Europe are calling on the Member States, when implementing the provisions of the Telecoms Package, to ensure the challenges that the publishing sector is facing in the online environment are appropriately reflected upon.

Brussels, 20 November - European newspaper and magazine publishers strongly criticise the agreement between the negotiators of the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission to introduce mandatory information on the energy class in advertisements for household appliances and other energy related products.

On the occasion of the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) Autumn General Assembly meeting in Seville, Spain on 6 November 2009, hosted by ENPA’s Spanish member association “Asociación de Editores de Diario Españoles (AEDE)” – the Spanish Association of Daily Newspaper Publishers - the ENPA General Assembly adopts its Seville resolution.

ENPA – European Newspaper Publishers’ Association will be holding its Autumn General Assembly meeting in Seville from 5 to 6 November, 2009. The event will be organized together with ENPA’s Spanish member association AEDE.

Yesterday (26 October), at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s (PACE) joint hearing on two important different subjects, “Respect for media freedom in Europe” and “The Protection of Journalists’ Sources of Information”, ENPA delegation raised the awareness of the PACE Sub-committee on the Media on the need to better protect newspapers’ privilege of press freedom on all platforms and not just in print. Specific case-studies on recent challenges to future press freedom in Luxembourg and Czech Republic were also presented.

ENPA highly values and endorses media pluralism in Europe. The European Parliament yesterday took a very wise decision not to call for legislation on media pluralism and concentration in the EU which could in fact decrease, not increase the level of media pluralism.

BRUSSELS 10 September 2009 - Valdo LEHARI Jr., President of ENPA and David J. HANGER, FAEP President, held a meeting on 8 September with Commissioner Viviane Reding who is in charge of Information Society and Media at the European Commission.

Brussels, 21 August 2009 - ENPA – the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association – welcomes the European Commission’s acknowledgement of the position of publishers as significant contributors to media literacy in the European Commission Recommendation on Media Literacy which has been adopted on 20 August.

The European Newspaper Publishers Association and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers have called on European governments to help ensure that Lithuania respects freedom of expression and freedom of the press following approval of a law that makes it a crime to ridicule someone.

Brussels – ENPA – the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association has called on Swedish Minister for Culture Ms Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth for her and her colleagues support for press freedom in Europe. Liljeroth, at the helm of the current Swedish Presidency of the EU’s Culture Council, has been asked by ENPA to support the press in light of recent attempts by national authorities in Czech Republic and Italy to prevent media access to certain wiretapping data in the public interest.

Brussels, 2 July 2009 – Today representatives of the European media business – including the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT), the Association of European Radios (AER), the European Publishers’ Council (EPC), the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) and the German Association of Commercial Broadcasters and Audiovisual Services (VPRT) – welcomed the conclusion of the revision of the 2001 Broadcasting Communication.

The European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) raises its concerns regarding the expansion of news aggregators’ activities in the field of online news using newspapers’ content. In particular, ENPA seriously questions the introduction of advertisements on Google News.

Paper recycling initiatives are encouraged to apply for the second European Paper Recycling Award. NGOs, educational institutes, local authorities and industry have implemented many innovative projects to enhance paper recycling all over Europe but these initiatives are generally not well known.

ENPA has this week finalised its latest position paper on media literacy.

European newspaper and magazine publishers condemn the European Parliament’s adoption on Tuesday of an amendment which requires the inclusion mandatory information on energy consumption in advertisements for household appliances and other energy related products.

“Respect press freedom. Support us through the crisis. Create a level playing field for all media.” These are the key messages newspaper publishers and their representatives from across Europe directed to governments and the European institutions in their Stockholm Resolution, adopted at the ENPA Spring General Assembly in Sweden.

A united front of media and advertising industry organisations is calling on the EU institutions locked into protracted Trialogue negotiations to see sense and reject harmful wording which would hamper existing and new business models online.

The ENPA Spring General Assembly will be held in Stockholm this 4-5 May.

ACAP (Automated Content Access Protocol), the new tool devised by the worldwide publishing community to help make copyright work on the web, is gaining more and more traction with an industry that feels it risks losing control of its main asset – its content.