“Global Trade Associations Call for Fair Playing Field”

FIBEP and other industry organizations and partners are concerned by the development of exclusive deals in the Media Monitoring industry. We are an international industry association representing Media Monitoring Organizations (MMOs) and Analysis Organizations around the world. Our members provide media monitoring as well as qualitative and quantitative analytical content, including press reviews, monitoring and social media analysis. Our services enhance the competitive intelligence, strategies and reputations of a broad range of organizations from NGOs to public institutions, SMEs and big companies through analytical insights.

In a world of information overload, threatened by misinformation and disinformation, the role played by media monitoring and analysis companies is essential. Companies and institutions cannot cope with and process the mass of information on their own. The added value of media monitoring and analysis companies is to find the information, analyze it and distribute it to their clients in compliance with copyright laws in each country where our members operate.

To provide these important services, it is crucial for MMOs to get access to the widest content available to ensure the exhaustivity, comprehensiveness and diversity of the sources monitored. We cannot work without access to the news and journalistic content. By implementing exclusive deals, a publisher inevitably threatens diversity and innovation and, at the same time, restricts the reach of crucial information and journalistic content.

In the past, particularly in the 1990s and 2000s, attempts at exclusive deals have been made in several countries (USA, Canada, Italy, etc.), but each time they have been unsuccessful because they have disrupted the market by depriving players of a source without bringing the expected benefits for those who had obtained exclusivity. Monitoring and providing relevant information from comprehensive media sources to MMOs customers, is absolutely essential for a democratic society by helping to preserve media pluralism and combat fake news and disinformation: our customers need to be informed on the different point of views published or broadcasted on the same raw information by different medias and journalists.

In some countries in Europe, South America or Australia, there is a legal environment (legislator's mandate, jurisprudence, etc.) which allows media monitoring companies access to exhaustive content, while complying with copyright. In other countries, such as France, steps are being taken to ensure easy access. FIBEP welcomes and supports such initiatives. In this respect, during the discussions on the European Copyright Directive, FIBEP advocated jointly with AMEC for harmonized and mandatory exceptions for media monitoring activities, as well as mandatory collective management schemes to avoid exclusive agreements which limit access to media content.

In the world, information is not a commodity like any other: information is the foundation of public debate and of our democratic societies. Without access to information, debate is stifled. This vision is not new. FIBEP published its copyright charter many years ago on the open access to information which said: “The free flow of news and information is the lifeblood of fundamental freedom. But in order to fully express ideas and opinions, individuals and corporations need to know what is said and written about them. By monitoring and delivering relevant news and information to their customers, our members deliver that knowledge impartially. By doing this, they help to make this free flow possible.”

Contact for further information

pressrelations & FIBEP

Romina Gersuni
Global Strategy Manager & FIBEP Vice President
Stephanienstraße 36, 40211 Düsseldorf
Tel. +49 211 175 20 77 - 77- 814
romina.gersuni@pressrelations.com
www.pressrelations.com