Goodbye CDMC………Welcome
CDMSI !In
2005, to allow the Council of Europe to move forward
and explore the new frontiers of media and
communication policy, the Steering Committee on the
Media and New Communication Services (CDMC) took
over from the three decade-old Steering Committee on
Mass Media (CDMM). Since then, changes accelerated
and the Council of Europe must keep up with the
development stream. On 1 January 2012, the CDMC will
be replaced by the new Steering Committee on Media
and Information Society (CDMSI). It will have a
decidedly embrace the forward looking dimension of
the
new notion of media, adopted by the Committee of
Ministers, in the standard setting work of the
Council of Europe.
Read here the
stocktaking report of the CDMC works, which
clearly paves the way for future works.
See the
terms of reference of the CDMSI

[02/02/2012]
10 Principles for the governance of Internet - New
language versions available
In a Declaration, the
Committee of Ministers adopted
10 Internet governance principles that should be
upheld by Council of Europe member states when
developing national and international policies
related to the Internet: protection of human rights,
democracy and the rule of law; multistakeholder
governance; responsibility of states; empowerment of
Internet users; universality; integrity;
decentralised management; open standards,
interoperability and end-to-end nature; open
network; and cultural and linguistic diversity.
(adopted on 23 September 2011)
Download and print the
10
Internet Governance Principles (bilingual: 1
side English, 1 side French)
Download here:
German
Russian

Council of Europe alerts
against pressure and attacks on new media,
whistleblowers and human rights defenders websites
Strasbourg, 08.11.2011 –
The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers today
alerted its member states about the risks to the
rights to freedom of expression and association that
may be created by politically motivated pressure on
Internet platforms and online service providers. It
also expressed concern about the threat to these
rights caused by cyber attacks against websites of
independent media, whistleblowers, human right
defenders and dissidents.
In a Declaration the
Committee of Ministers stressed the need to affirm
the roles of these actors as facilitators of the
exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and
freedom of assembly and association. It also stated
that human rights standards should be applied in
situations were there is interference with Internet
content and with access to websites hosting it, as
well as with online community interactions.
Declaration of the Committee of Ministers
on the protection of freedom of expression and
freedom of assembly and association
with regard to privately operated Internet
platforms and online service providers

15th and last meeting of the Steering Committee on
Media and New Communication Services - CDMC. 29
November to 2 December 2011, Strasbourg
The CDMC
approved three important standard setting texts and
submitted them to the Committee of Ministers for
adoption: two draft recommendations, respectively on
he protection of human rights with regard to search
engines and on the protection of human rights with
regard to social networking services, and a draft
declaration on libel tourism. An other draft remains
to be finalised on gender aspects of Council of
Europe standard setting texts. The CDMC also
addressed the work for its successor Steering
Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI)
and opened the preparation of a specialised
ministerial conference to be organised in 2013.

[26/09/2011] A new notion of media
States should adopt a new
broad notion of media and acknowledge that social
networks, online games or online whistleblower sites are
entitled to media freedom rights and responsibilities
established under article 10 of the European Convention
on Human Rights. The
Recommendation on a new notion of
media offers a set of criteria to be used when providing
a graduated and differentiated policy response to
different actors according to their role in the
production and dissemination of information or content
and in the operation of applications designed to
facilitate mass communication, including platforms or
applications for content-based interactive experiences.
As a form of interference, regulation should be a
measure of last resort; preference should be given to
self-regulation and to new media embracing voluntarily
journalistic standards. Attention has to be paid to
situations of strong media concentration with a view to
guaranteeing a satisfactory level of pluralism,
diversity of content and consumer choice.
(adopted on 23 September 2011)
