From paper to practice: Can the EMFA be the turning point for real protections for journalists?

Before we can take a critical look at the repercussions and possible positive strides forward that the European Media Freedom Act  (EMFA) regulation presents, it is important to understand what it means first. 

What is the EMFA? 

The European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) is an EU regulation designed to protect media freedom, editorial independence and media pluralism across the EU by setting EU-level rules that national laws must respect. With initial proposals for implementing changes starting in 2022, the European Parliament reached an agreement in December 2023. The agreement, however, only entered force in May 2024, with most of the provisions becoming applicable in August 2025.

What are the practical changes? 

• The EMFA accounts for explicit rules preventing public authorities from interfering in editorial decisions to protect the editorial independence. It thus creates safeguards against political interference and for public service media governance.
• It creates stronger legal protection for sources and rules limiting unjustified access to the communications of journalists. It further constrains the indiscriminate surveillance of journalism and the use of spyware. Meaning it protects journalistic sources and confidentiality. 
• It creates rules to avoid distortive state advertising practices and to ensure that public advertising does not become a tool of influence. Meaning it creates rules pertaining to state advertising and funding transparency. 
• Transparency is further extended to the ownership of media, with tighter rules to monitor concentration and plurality. 
• It also includes requirements for transparency when it comes to the platform’s restrictions on media content, giving media outlets better access to the platform’s audience and data. These obligations ensure that there is media visibility on large online platforms.
• In order to enforce the measures, the EMFA allocates enforcement responsibilities to national authorities and creates the Media Board so that communication related to coordinating efforts and peer reviewing is possible across member states.

The EMFA as a turning point

The act emerges as a point for various potential benefits for journalism. With stronger legal protections in place for sources and against surveillance, investigative journalists and whistleblowers face reduced risks. This becomes especially the case when considering member states that have weak national safeguards in place. The EMFA represents possibilities for reduced financial leverage used by governments to influence the media. Once limits are imposed on manipulative state advertisement and obligations are created for clearer ownership transparency, the financial power governments can have on media can be lessened. By imposing platform transparency and data access, the act could positively contribute to a media outlet’s ability to reach its audiences and analyse their distribution. This is important for the commercial sustainability of outlets as well as their editorial strategies. If widely and properly implemented, the provisions of the EMFA can have a wide impact on journalistic practices.

Possible practical constraints

Despite its promising impact on journalism, the EMFA could have some risks and face practical constraints. The protections as outlined by the regulation can only be implemented if the Member States enact national law and administrative reform. The possible implementation gap is a current concern of civil society and journalist organisations that have warned that there is a possibility that some countries may be slow or resistant to the changes. Therefore, a focus on enforcement and incentive for political will is crucial for the regulation to have a real impact.