A working document of the services of the European Commission on pluralism of the media; an independent study on the pluralism of the media in EU member states (in 2007); and a Communication of the Commission on the indices of the pluralism of the media in member states (in 2008): these are the “three stages” of the Plan presented in recent days by the European Commissioners for Communication (Margot Wallstroem) and for the Information Society and the Media (Viviane Reding) to guarantee and reinforce the theory and practice of the pluralism of the means of mass communication. The so-called “Reding-Wallstroem approach” amplifies the classic definition of pluralism by combining ownership of the media with the concept of “access to information of different origin to enable citizens to form an opinion without being influenced by a single predominant source”. This, say the Commissioners, is the necessary condition to be able to respond to the need for the democratic process to be transparent and free and “tackle the far-reaching changes and reforms imposed by the new technologies and global competition today”.
