The PSM Compass is a new online advocacy toolkit to share our collective experiences and learnings when it comes to making the case for public service media.
The Compass offers Members a range of tools, tactics, messages, and resources that can support in building advocacy campaigns, together with pan-European data and international benchmarks.
This year, we have been rolling out dedicated workshops focusing on familiarizing Members with the content of the Toolkit, highlighting case studies from broadcasters and other industries, and further tailoring the messages and the research to provide a true one-stop shop to support Members with their national advocacy.
As the political and financial challenges to public service media increase across the continent, we have been very active in supporting our Members and campaigning for sustainable, independent broadcasting.
Our senior leadership and Member Relations teams visited more than 30 countries in 2024 alone. We met with members, politicians, regulators, journalists, and civil society to help make the case for public service media wherever it was threatened.
As the challenges carry on multiplying, we will be continuing to step up our advocacy support – providing solid research, legal advice, EU assistance, strategic guidance, and campaigning – and building on the work of the PSM Compass.
We also continue to provide financial assistance to Members who find themselves constrained politically or economically through our Partnership Programme which reflects the principles of solidarity that lie at the heart of our Union.
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Building on the momentum of the ‘Do the Next Right Thing’ EU Elections campaign, our Brussels team has delivered the EBU’s policy asks to new Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and European Commission officials.
In Strasbourg, the Legal and Policy Assembly — hosted by the Council of Europe — coincided with targeted outreach and meetings with key EU policymakers.
A cross-departmental prominence workshop for Members brought together the communities of Legal and Policy, Digital, and Technology and Innovation to coordinate an approach to securing prominence for general interest media.
We were an early mover on the topic of deepfake celebrity scams, providing an overview of the issue and connecting Members to enhance knowledge.
And, in March, we hosted the Executive Board for a high-level programme with new EU officials. The day included a lunch with MEPs, followed by meetings with Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for digital topics, and Glenn Micallef, Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport. The day concluded with a 75th anniversary showcase event celebrating the EBU and PSM’s value in today’s shifting political landscape.
A major highlight last year was the publication of the ‘Signposts’ Handbook on Digital Regulation — a practical, accessible guide designed to help non-experts navigate the complex and rapidly evolving EU digital regulatory environment.
The legal team provided tailored state aid advice to Members including Finland and the Czechia, responding to country-specific legal challenges.
We continued to support Members closely with the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act and, most recently, contributed to national consultations in Germany and Poland, adding the EBU’s legal expertise into regulatory discussions at the national level.
At the European level, the legal team also intervened in EU Court proceedings — supporting RTÉ on freedom of information issues and LRT in its state aid case — underscoring our continued commitment to defending the legal foundations of public service media across Europe.
We are working more collaboratively to strengthen relationships with major tech platforms to ensure our Members — and their audiences — benefit from greater visibility, support, and strategic cooperation.
For example, we set out our ‘Big Asks’ to technology platforms with a paper on News Integrity in the Age of AI to try and ensure future AI developments are safe, reliable and beneficial for everyone. Thousands of public and private news media around the world joined the initiative.
Building on the success of previous years, our Technology and Innovation study mission took a group of C-level members to the USA, for direct exchanges with companies including OpenAI, Nvidia, Adobe, Apple, Microsoft and others, leading to a better understanding of those companies’ future plans, priorities and timelines.
Our collaboration with Google expanded through a digitization programme for Member archives, training sessions, and high-level meetings.
Meanwhile, we worked with Meta to resolve issues with over 50 Member cases, even as Meta scales back its focus on public service media. We have stepped in to offer TikTok training directly to Members and, looking ahead, we are supporting Members explore emerging platforms such as Bluesky.
Across all efforts, we advocate for better tools, access, and visibility for public media content in a fast-evolving digital landscape.
We maintain strong relationships with international institutions and work closely with organizations such as the Council of Europe, ITU, WIPO and the European Audiovisual Observatory on an ongoing basis. The EBU participates in numerous ITU working groups and task forces, has observer status at WIPO and has two representatives on the Observatory’s Advisory Committee.
We continue to work with the Council of Europe on their Safety of Journalists Platform which commemorated its 10th anniversary this year with a day of advocacy. We have contributed to debates on media freedom and met with a range of EU and Council of Europe officials, including European Commissioner for Democracy, Michael McGrath.
In addition over the past 12 months, we have contributed to a UNESCO Study on Indigenous Peoples and the Media which found that 30% of PSM organizations include, involve and/or take into consideration indigenous peoples in their staff and their content, and an OSCE consultation on Media & Big Tech where we put forward our position on platform regulation.
