EU and media policy: conceptualising media pluralism in the era of online platforms. The experience of the Media Pluralism Monitor

Starting the Handbook with an analysis of media pluralism clarifies our conclusion that this is the most fundamental target for any principled and relevant European media law and policy. However, media pluralism is, at the same time, one of the keys and one of the most complex concepts of contemporary media policies. At the level of European Union law and policy, media pluralism is recognised as one of the core values on which the European Union is founded.1 It is seen as an indispensable condition for exercising citizenship and fostering participation in a democratic society by enabling media to fulfil their role in providing complete, balanced, and accurate information, and holding power to account.2 For this reason, media pluralism is also one of the components examined under the renewed and deepened EU rule of law monitoring mechanism, as a sort of indicator of the health of a given democracy.3 In effect, all EU contemporary democracies acknowledge the importance of ensuring a plural media environment. Freedom of expression and its corollaries of freedom of the media and media pluralism are considered cornerstones of the rule of law and preconditions for a sound political debate. As stated in the Recommendation (2018) 1 of the Council of Europe on media pluralism and transparency of media ownership, they “ensure the availability and accessibility of diverse information and views, on the basis of which individuals can form and express their opinions and exchange information and ideas”.4 While undoubtedly acknowledged as a policy objective and widely agreed amongst academics and policymakers that media pluralism is a democratic value essential for the integrity of the democratic discourse and procedures, the definition of media pluralism itself is debated and has never been firmly established. This is understandable since it reflects the complexity