The participants in the first Media Forum approved a resolution that says that the freedom of the media and pluralism of opinion are mandatory conditions in a democracy with the rule of law and that condemns the tendencies to monopolize and concentrate the mass media. The firs Media Forum was organized by the Press Council on October 27-28, IPN reports.

The resolution disapproves of the practices to manipulate through the national and foreign media outlets as these leave room for promoting hatred, intolerance, misinformation and propaganda. It says that the quality of the media products decreases when the share of the online media grows. Those who voted for the resolution highlight the disloyal competition on the advertising market and point to the unfavorable environment for the activity of the media in the absence of a strategy for developing it.

The resolution also condemns the practices to monopolize and politically control the mass media, to manipulate the information and to use the media as an instrument of misinformation and propaganda.

The media are urged to adhere to the quality standards, not to allow being controlled by political and economic players, to respect the human rights and dignity and to self-regulate their activity, including in the online environment.

The Media Forum calls on the authorities to adopt and implement coherent policies for developing the media, to adjust the legislation to the EU norms on activity in the media sector, and to ensure the freedom of the media by implementing the European standards on pluralism and diversity of media content.

The authorities are requested to create a favorable environment for the development of free and independent media, including by amending the legislation so as to ensure honest competition and to eliminate the monopolist practices from the advertising market, to take measures to protect the national information area from foreign propagandistic products and other measures based on the roadmap that will be transmitted to the authorities by the initiative group of the Media Forum 2015 the next two weeks.

The Media Forum was organized in partnership with the Association of Independent Press, the Independent Journalism Center, the Electronic Press Association and the Young Journalist’s Center.