Empower
Now
8th June 2017
Today, Thursday, 8 June, MEPs voting in the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), took the golden opportunity to do the right thing and voted for a copyright proposal that acknowledges the role that press publishers play in our precious democracy by investing in a free and independent professional press.
We applaud and sincerely thank those of you who stood up for the press in the face of considerable pressure from those who benefit commercially from unlicensed use of publishers’ valuable content.
Voting in favour of the press publisher’s neighbouring right brings us one step closer to achieving a fairer digital eco-system that works for the content creators as well as the distributors, consumers and digital start-ups.
Additional amendments were adopted which improve the right by extending the protection to print, including rental and lending of press publications and by adding a stronger reference to the investment of press publishers.
Please get involved in our initiative, www.empower-democracy.eu, if you are committed to a democratic Europe with an independent and pluralistic media landscape.