Research from Portugal endorses an EU Media regulatory act that protects and sustains media pluralism and the ethos of journalism

MeDeMAP’s preliminary findings on Portugal’s media ecosystem illustrate the diversity of challenges facing democratic societies to sustain and protect market- based media plurality. Many voices from the sector recognize that systemic disruption imperils democracy. The incapacity of national regulators to enforce efficient market-based solutions to the extra-territorial challenge to media plurality presented by very large platforms and search engines is a common refrain. Disruptive technologies cannot be allowed to innovate away democracy (Schaake, 2024). EU legal instruments (DMAS, DSA) do not address questions regarding journalism arising from the different national legal frameworks and from the digital transformation of national sectoral analogue markets into a single digital market increasingly dominated by the gatekeepers. The Portuguese Journalists' Professional License Committee proposes the adoption of a comprehensive framework to protect and sustain media plurality and the ethos of the journalism profession. The need for an EU wide definition of what is a journalistic medium is pressing, likewise a uniform classification and registration of the media and of common professional standards. Outdated national sectoral or unapplicable media laws should be repelled. The frontier between of what is advertising/marketing/branded content and journalism must be clear. The establishment of EU-wide deontological and ethical codes are sought.