TRANSPARENCY OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP

Transcription

1 CONFERENCE ON TRANSPARENCY OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES Brussels, 24 September 2013 (Hotel Thon EU, 75 Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat) l 1 l

2 SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES (in alphabetical order) Gülsün Bïlgehan Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media Gülsün is a full member of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Culture, Science, Education and the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Equality and Anti Discrimation. She is the rapporteur of various reports and motions for resolution on media freedom, media ethics and the transparency of media ownership. She is President of the Socialist Women Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and she is the member of the Turkish Assembly from the Ankara constituency. Lorena Boix-Alonso European Commission: DG CONNECT Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology Lorena Boix Alonso is the Head of Unit for Converging Media and Content Unit, Directorate General for Communications Networks Content and Technology. Formerly, she was Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice President Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda. She has also worked at the European Court of Justice. Helen Darbishire Access Info Europe Helen Darbishire is a human rights activist specialising in the public s right of access to information, and the development of open and democratic societies with participatory and accountable governments. She is Executive Director of Access Info Europe. Helen has provided expertise to UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and the World Bank. Fiona Harrison Access Info Europe Fiona is a human rights consultant specialising in a number of thematic areas including media freedom, freedom of expression and information. She worked for 10 years at ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression and has also worked as a consultant for the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Council of Europe. l 2 l

3 Alexander Kashumov Access to Information Programme Alexander is head of the legal team at the Access to Information Programme in Bulgaria. He has been working in the fi eld of freedom of information, freedom of expression and media law since 1997 and was recognized as Attorney of the Year by the Legal World magazine in Andris Mellakauls Council of Europe Steering Committee on Media and Information Society Andris is Head of the Information Space Integration Division at the Ministry of Culture in Latvia and is chair of the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Media and Information Society. He was formerly a member of the National Broadcasting Council and advisor to the Minister of Culture on media law & policy. Mark Thompson Open Society Foundations Mark works on policy projects for the Media Program of the Open Society Foundations. He is also an author, and has worked for several intergovernmental missions as a media expert and political offi cer. Susan Treadwell Open Society Initiative for Europe Susan is Deputy Director of the Open Society Initiative for Europe, based in Barcelona. She previously worked with the Open Society Human Rights Initiative in Budapest focusing on human rights and anti-corruption in the Western Balkans. Peggy Valcke University of Leuven Dr. Peggy Valcke is a leading European expert on media and communications law and has advised both public and private actors in Belgium and abroad. She is a full time research professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and she teaches media law at the Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel. l 3 l

4 Renate Weber MEP, ALDE Group Renate is a lawyer at the Bucharest Bar and member of the European Parliament. She is a full member on the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE), and is the ALDE Coordinator and ALDE Spokesperson in matters related to civil liberties and fundamental rights. Renate was also the LIBE rapporteur on the EP s own initiative report the EU Charter: standard settings for media freedom across the EU. She has been adviser to the Romanian President on constitutional and legislative affairs, member of the Management Board of European Agency for Fundamental Rights (2007), and president of the Soros Foundation. AFTERNOON PARTICIPANTS Ross Biggam Association of Commercial Television in Europe Ross Biggam worked as Legal Adviser to the House of Lords EU Select Committee before joining ITV, the leading television channel in the UK, where he ended up as Head of European Affairs. In April 2000, he moved to Brussels to become Director General of the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) which represents twenty eight media companies active in 34 European countries. The ACT is consulted on a regular basis by the Community Institutions on all questions impacting on the future of the Audio-visual sector in Europe, in particular with regard to digital TV and the EU Directive Television without Frontiers. Francine Cunningham European Newspaper Publishers Association Francine Cunningham is Executive Director of ENPA, the association representing publishers of newspapers and news media in Europe. A former journalist, Francine also has broad experience of representing the creative and media industries in Brussels. Gvodzen Flego Gvozden Flego was professor of social philosophy at Zagreb university, member of the Advisory board of Higher Education Support Programme at Open Society Institute and Croatian Minister of Science and Technology. He is now member of Croatian Parliament and a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. l 4 l

5 Jean-François Furnémont European Platform of Regulatory Authorities Jean-François Furnémont is a former freelance journalist. He joined the CSA of the French Speaking Community in Belgium in 2000, of which he is Director General since He is active in the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA, as vice-chairman from May 2008 to May 2011 and as Chairman since May He is the author of numerous articles and conferences on media regulation and participates in various expertise missions in the fi eld of media regulation and promotion of media pluralism, human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Marc Gruber European Federation of Journalists Marc Gruber has been working at the Brussels-based secretariat of the International/European Federation of Journalists since He fi rst worked for the IFJ on communications, globalisation and broadcasting issues. Since 2006 he is Director of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). In this extent he deals with European media policies and journalists rights in relation with the EU institutions, the Council of Europe and the member unions of the EFJ across the continent. He also monitors social policies in the media sector.marc is French, he studied political science and international relations in France and in Italy. Mykola Kniazhytsky Mykola Kniazhytsky is People s Deputy of Ukraine, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Broadcasting of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on freedom of expression and information and a journalist. In the past, Mr. Kniazhytsky led a number of media companies in Ukraine, including the National Television Company of Ukraine. He was a member of the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio. Chiril Lucinschi Chiril Lucinschi is a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and is Chairman of the Committee on Culture, Education, Research, Youth, Sports and Mass-Media. He is President of the National Association of Broadcasters Employers from the Republic of Moldova and also of the Europa Libera Moldova Foundation. l 5 l

6 José Mendes Bota José Mendes Bota is the President of the Portuguese parliamentary Committee on Ethics, Citizenship and Media. He is Vice-President of the Equality and Non-Discrimination Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Coordinator of the Parliamentary Network Women Free From Violence. He is also a former Member of the European Parliament. He has been a Member of the Portuguese Parliament since 1983 and is a former Mayor of Loulé (Algarve). Jasen Mesić Jasen Mesić is a member of the Croatian Parliament and is a member of the Committee on Information and Media. He served as the Croatian Minister of Culture between 2010 and He has also been Assistant Minister for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and vice President of the Assembly in Zagreb. Marija Obradović Marija Obradović is a member of Parliament of the Republic of Serbia representing the Serbian Progressive Party. She is Deputy Chairperson of the Culture and Information Committee and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committtee. She is also Chief Co-ordinator of the Women s Parliamentarian Network. John Whittingdale, OBE Rt Hon John Whittingdale MP OBE has been the member of the House of Commons for Maldon in Essex since 1992 and Chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee since He was an Opposition Spokesman from , including two periods as Opposition Spokesman on Culture, Media and Sport. Before becoming an MP he was a researcher and adviser to the Conservative Party, spent some time working for NM Rothschild Merchant Bank and, from , acted as political and then private secretary to Mrs Margaret Thatcher. l 6 l