THE RIGHT OF REPLY TO TRANSFRONTIER TELEVISION BROADCASTS: A TWO‐SPEED EUROPE
| Date | 01 February 1993 |
| Pages | 335-346 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb024780 |
| Published date | 01 February 1993 |
| Author | VINCENT PORTER,MARTIN GABRIEL |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
THE
RIGHT OF REPLY TO TRANSFRONTIER TELEVISION
BROADCASTS:
A TWO-SPEED EUROPE
Received: 24th January, 1993
VINCENT PORTER
AND
MARTIN GABRIEL
VINCENT
PORTER
IS
PROFESSOR
OF
FILM
AND
MEDIA STUDIES
AT
THE
CENTRE
FOR
COMMUNICATION
AND
INFORMATION STUDIES, UNIVERSITY
OF
WESTMINSTER.
HE IS
THE
AUTHOR
OF
'BEYOND
THE
BERNE CONVENTION:
COPYRIGHT, BROADCASTING
AND THE
SINGLE
EUROPEAN MARKET (JOHN LIBBEY, 1991)
AND
(WITH SUZANNE HASSELBACH) 'PLURALISM,
POLITICS
AND THE
MARKETPLACE:THE
REGULATION
OF
GERMAN BROADCASTING'
(ROUTLEDGE, 1991).
MARTIN GABRIEL
IS
A
QUINTIN HOGG DOCTORAL RESEARCH
STUDENT
AT THE
CENTRE
FOR
COMMUNICATION
AND
INFORMATION
STUDIES, UNIVERSITY
OF
WESTMINSTER.
HE
HOLDS
AN MA IN
COMMUNICATIONS POLICY
STUDIES FROM
THE
CITY UNIVERSITY WHERE
HE
COMPLETED
A
DISSERTATION
ON
GAELIC
LANGUAGE BROADCASTINC
IN
SCOTLAND.
ABSTRACT
As the Council of
Europe
and the Euro-
pean
Community (EC)
both failed
to
intro-
duce a standard right of reply for
transfrontier television broadcasts,
national
systems
prevail.
They
present
no
underlying
theme
common
to all jurisdic-
tions.
Many EC
states
offer
a
complainant
the right to have his or
her
own
corrective
answer
broadcast.
A
uniform
provision for
this
could
have
been
agreed
or failing
that,
a protocol for a
simpler
right
of correction.
The UK Government's unwillingness to
accommodate any such rights blocked
progress
towards
standardising procedures.
As a
result,
there
is now
confusion
over
the
meaning
of a
right
of reply for
transfrontier
broadcasts
and
how
it
should
be
exercised.
INTRODUCTION
In 1989 two legal instruments regu-
lating European transfrontier tele-
vision services, the Council of
Europe's Convention on Transfron-
tier Television,1 and the 'Television
Without Frontiers' Directive of the
European Community's Council of
Ministers,2 were both agreed. Both
instruments require Member States
to make provision in their domestic
laws for a right of reply, or an equi-
valent remedy, to domestically
licensed television broadcasts.3 The
335
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