COMECON MEDIA

Source: EU Commission The Commission welcomes the adoption by the European Regulators Group of Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) of the  monitoring report  on the effectiveness of the  Code of Practice on disinformation  of October 2018.  This report confirms that the Code has provided the foundation for a structured dialogue and has had a positive impact in the fight against online disinformation, despite shortcomings. It suggests that a co-regulatory backstop may be necessary in order to ensure more transparent and effective actions.  Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra  Jourová , said: “ I am glad to see that the Code of Practice and our dialogue with the signatories are showing an initial positive impact, but more remains to be done. This report will fuel our ongoing work on the European Democracy Action Plan which will propose measures to counter disinformation and evolving threats for our democracies. It will aim, among others, at creating a more transparent an

Link:  Coronavirus and the European film industry Written by Ivana Katsarova, EU Parliament Research Service With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused the shutdown of some 70 000 cinemas in China, nearly 2 500 in the US and over 9 000 in the EU, the joy sparked by the success of the film industry in 2019 has quickly given way to anxiety. Shootings, premieres, spring festivals and entertainment events have faced near-total cancellation or postponement due to the pandemic, thus inflicting an estimated loss of US$5 billion on the global box office; this amount could skyrocket to between US$15 billion and US$17 billion, if cinemas do not reopen by the end of May 2020. The EU film sector is essentially made up of small companies employing creative and technical freelancers, which makes it particularly vulnerable to the pandemic. The domino effect of the lockdown has triggered the immediate freeze of hundreds of projects in the shooting phase, disrupted cash flows and push