Bucharest, 20 Apr - New monitoring reports on television regulations and practice are available as of today. The reports cover four countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania. Reports on five additional countries, as well as an overview, will be published in the coming months. All reports will be translated into local languages.

The reports released today are a follow up to a series of monitoring reports on "Television across Europe: Regulation, Policy and Independence", published in 2005. Unprecedented in its range and practicality, this series surveyed broadcasting in 20 European countries, measuring the reality against national and international commitments and standards. The 2008 follow-up reports review the situation in nine of the original twenty countries, where developments are notably dynamic or turbulent.

The reports reveal that EU membership has not prevented a revival of political influence over broadcasting. Ownership concentration, too, continues apace. The reports are available at http://www.mediapolicy.org

Mediapolicy.org is a new website dedicated to monitoring and debating issues of broadcasting policy, regulation and independence in Europe and beyond. It is intended as a resource for  media professionals, activists, academics and all others interested in broadcasting policy. The website will highlight the developments in an area constantly expanding with the advance of new technologies and the ever-closer convergence of platforms, providers and owners.

In addition to the original Television across Europe reports and the 2008 follow-up reports, the website includes material on other related projects, as well as details of a major new research project on the impact of digitalisation on European broadcasting.

Over time, mediapolicy.org will develop into an online journal that will cover broadcasting policy and standards from various angles, not just in Europe but in other regions of the world as well. In keeping with the Open Society Institute's values and practice, mediapolicy.org will advocate the adoption and full implementation of internationally recognised standards of human rights and professional ethics.

Both the new reports and the new website launched today are produced by the EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program (EUMAP) of the Open Society Institute and the Network Media Program of the Open Society Foundation.

EUMAP, the EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program of the Open Society Institute, monitors the development of selected human rights and rule of law issues in the European Union, its candidate and potential countries. In addition to media policy, EUMAP's work is currently focused on access to education for Roma and on the situation of Muslims in EU cities. EUMAP also recently released a series of papers on intra-European migration, which are available online. To find out more about these projects and about EUMAP: http://www.eumap.org.