EU's 25 national broadcasters to fight racism

National broadcasting regulators from across the EU today agreed to co-ordinate the fight against those who use television to incite hatred.

The 25 regulators signed an agreement setting EU-wide standards aimed at keeping those who incite religious and political hatred off the air, EU Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said in Brussels.

“The right to freedom of speech and freedom to information ... is a cornerstone of a democratic and pluralist society,” Reding said. “We therefore cannot tolerate racist audio-visual content in Europe.”

Under the agreement, regulators will exchange information on which broadcasters they authorise and which should be blacklisted.

EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said the Dutch national broadcast regulator used the talks to announce it was following France’s lead in December to ban Al-Manar, the Hezbollah TV station.

“The Al-Manar channel was alleged to broadcast content which was considered incitement to hate,” Selmayr said.

Combating racism and anti-Semitism has become a hot topic reflecting the rise in anti-Jewish attacks and growing anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe.

Under current EU broadcast rules from 1989, national regulators are obliged to take action against stations broadcasting programs that use “incitement to hatred on grounds of race, sex, religion or nationality.”

Selmayr said those rules would be updated later this year to include new media, like Internet-based video programming.

He said satellite broadcasts from non-EU countries into the 25-nation bloc would also be scrutinised and could be shut down, because each satellite network needs a national uplink within the union.

“The country which provides the uplink to the satellite or frequency is responsible,” he said.