On January 10, 2022, the European Commission published an open public consultation on the upcoming European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). The objective of the EMFA would be to improve the functioning of the internal market for media, build on the fundamental freedoms in light of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and complement the existing EU media framework, currently based on the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive.

Scholars at our department have decades long research experience with processes in public communication (via the media) and their infrastructure conditions, as well as their impact on society and individuals. We have delivered massive body of research on Governance, democracy, solidarity as a core research theme at our Faculty. Within this vein, we have provided evidence for the European Commission on the systemic and inherent risks to the independent governance of the Public Service Broadcaster ORF in Austria. Our responses to the public consultation aimed at informing the debate on the need for further and strengthened safeguards on the European level for media pluralism in the EU.

With similar objectives, we are hosting the RIPE@2022 Conference Between the Fourth Estate and the Fifth Power (scheduled for September 18-21, 2022, in Vienna, Austria) for "advancing understandings of journalistic theory and practice in the context of a complicated set of challenges related to digital disruption, globalization, commercialization, information disorder, and the importance of fair, free and independent information and news provision that has been a persistent responsibility of public service media organizations over the decades".