MEDIA : ANALYSIS OF MEDIA PLURALISM TO STAY AT NATIONAL LEVEL.

• Position: Rules governing broadcasting industry on media buying

Don't expect any action at Community level with regard to media diversity'. Such is the motto adopted by Commissioners Viviane Reding (information society) and Margot Wallstrom (institutional relations and communication).aThe communication adopted on 16 January by the European Commission is, if nothing else, at least clear. It lists all failures since the 1990s and confirms that "there has never been any consensus on the need nor the limits of a possible Community action in this domain".

"It's a very sensitive subject. It's not the first time that the European Commission is tackling this problem," notes Jacques Briquemont, in Brussels to represent the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Back in December 1992, the Commission published a Green Paper recommending Community action in this area. The public debate floundered...