The advent of the Internet and the transition towards convergence and cloud-based content provision potentially challenge the traditional notion of pluralism, at the same time expanding its potential and undermining its foundations. The impact of these developments on freedom of expression and pluralism is highly debated. This workshop examines current risks in the field of pluralism and freedom of the media and devise ways to address them.

The workshop will discuss:

• The definition of media in the Internet age: how comprehensive should it be, does the definition of media include responsibility for editorial control?

• The new actors — bloggers, citizen journalists — of the new media: do these actors require special protection?

• Limitations to media freedom arising from political interference (state intervention or national legislation).

• Possible policy measures to preserve media pluralism on the Internet (e.g. protecting the end-to-end architecture of the Internet, a robust best effort network, legal rules on ​“must-carry” content, protection of user-generated content, etc.).

• The notion of pluralism in the era of online search: should it lead to ​“diversity by design”, or ​“exposure by design” principles to preserve pluralism?

• Striking a balance between copyright protection and pluralism: can we find the right balance between respect to pluralism and the need for copyright enforcement? The consequences for pluralism of deep packet inspection.

Anja Kovacs will join the workshop as a panellist. Other panellists are Pilar del Castillo, Member of the European Parliament; Peggy Valcke, KU Leuven; Alasgar Mammadli, Irex Azerbaijan; Ben Hammersley, Wired magazine; Giacomo Mazzone, European Broadcasting Union; Eli Noam, CITI, Columbia University, New York; Evangelia Psychogiopoulou, Research Fellow, ELIAMEP, Athens; and Maciej Tomaszewski, European Commission, DG CONNECT.

The workshop will be moderated by Andrea Renda, Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Camino Manjon, DG CONNECT, European Commission, is the remote moderator.