Pressure, prominence & AI

Seychelles: CEO says he never faced more pressure as controversial bill is approved

The board of the SBC will be disbanded after the SBC Bill passed its third reading in parliament, despite widespread local and international concern. 

The Public Media Alliance had sent a letter to the vice president, signed by several other leading international broadcasting bodies and press freedom groups, which called for the bill to be paused and urgently reviewed. The groups feared the bill placed too much authority over the appointments of new board members and senior executives in the hands of the president. The Seychelles Media Commission also stated its concerns, while the opposition party organised a public protest against it. 

Fears the new law will make the SBC vulnerable to political interference have been compounded after the chief executive, Berard Dupres, said in an interview with SBC that the past six to seven months, under the United Seychelles party government, “has been the period during which I have received the most threats, insults and pressure. I ask myself, in light of the intention of the new law, which is said to give SBC greater independence, how that objective can be reconciled with the reality that I have experienced over the past few months.” He added that the current board and leadership have been “dragged through the mud” by accusations that the SBC was biased under the previous government, which Dupres rejected. 

The bill is awaiting presidential approval. 

Read more >>

Belgium: VRT could open platform to other broadcasters

The Flemish public broadcaster, VRT, wants to open its streaming platform to other local broadcasters as a means to increase prominence and help smaller Flemish broadcasters.

“Never before has the entire Flemish media and creative sector been under as much pressure,” VRT chief executive Frederik Delaplace told a Flemish parliamentary committee. “We are living through crucial times when it comes to the quality and diversity of our media landscape.” The proposal would see VRT Max open to Flemish content makers, easing their digital cost pressures, while creating a stronger platform for Flemish language and content, increasing overall reach.

In June, in an opinion piece, VRT’s Karen Donders and Aline De Beir argued that television design choices were reshaping who people watch, hear and ultimately trust. “Strong local content is no longer guaranteed to be visible,” they said, citing a VRT study that found a local app can lose up to 75 percent usage when buried on a smart TV interface. “When the media that connect people to their own communities and societies are pushed off-screen, citizens are ultimately the ones who lose information, culture and ultimately their sense of belonging.” They called for policymakers to implement strong measures which would “ensure that content serving the public interest remains easy to find, clearly visible and genuinely accessible.” 

Read more >>

Germany: Broadcasting fee revenue records modest decline for 2025

Germany’s broadcasting fee revenue marginally declined last year, marking the first annual drop in several years. Total revenue – which is collected from households, organisations and companies at a monthly fee of €18.36 – was recorded at approximately €8.72 billion, a €20 million drop. 

Despite the decline, 2025 collections remain high by historical standards, with revenue totalling €9.02 billion and €8.57 billion in 2023 and 2022 respectively. 2025’s downward trend was expected, after the latest nationwide data reconciliation exercise by the broadcasting fee collection service. Customer service also saw a significant improvement, largely attributed to the continued digitisation of Germany’s broadcasting fee system, including updates to its website.  

The vast majority of the fee income continued to fund Germany’s public broadcasters, with ZDF receiving the largest individual share at approximately €2.2 billion. The figures come amid an ongoing legal dispute over public broadcaster funding, with ARD and ZDF challenging the German states’ decision not to greenlight a recommended increase to the monthly broadcasting fee. Meanwhile, ahead of state elections later this year, the far right AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has threatened withdrawing from the state media treaty entirely, which would present another crisis for the public broadcasters. 

Read more >>

Italy: Arrests over suspected attack against Rai journalist

Italian police have arrested four people in relation to a bomb attack said to have targeted a journalist for public broadcaster Rai. Those arrested are believed to have been acting “”on the orders of a person who has not yet been identified in planning and preparing the criminal act”, according to a preliminary investigation judge. In a statement, Rai welcomed the arrests, adding “Rai reiterates its full support for Sigfrido Ranucci and is confident that the ongoing investigation will also identify any instigators of such a serious and intimidating act.”

Meanwhile, the broadcaster’s board has been plagued by infighting, with members of various political alignments resigning en masse, accusing the board of having been taken over by the left. The board has been without a chair for over a year, with a two-thirds majority to elect one unable to be reached.