The Thematic Expansion of Media Regulation in the European Union : From Sectoral Oversight to the Protection of Democratic Functions

Papp, János Tamás (2025) The Thematic Expansion of Media Regulation in the European Union : From Sectoral Oversight to the Protection of Democratic Functions. INSTITUTIONES ADMINISTRATIONIS - JOURNAL OF ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES, 5 (2). pp. 144-159. ISSN 2786-1929

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Abstract

This paper analyses the evolution of European Union media regulation from the Television Without Frontiers Directive to the European Media Freedom Act. It shows how an initially sectoral framework focused on cross-border broadcasting and market integration has gradually expanded to address structural challenges such as platform dominance, disinformation, and algorithmic control of information flows. The study traces this shift from economic coordination toward the protection of democratic discourse and media pluralism. It examines the main objectives and mechanisms of the new framework while assessing its legal foundations and compatibility with subsidiarity and proportionality. It concludes that the European Union’s expanding role in media regulation, though rooted in legitimate concerns, must be exercised with caution: without careful limits, the effort to safeguard democratic discourse could unintentionally blur the distinction between protecting the conditions of free expression and prescribing its boundaries, thereby risking the very pluralism it seeks to defend.

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