You would never have guessed the European Initiative for Media Pluralism was a nefarious group of press-hating leftist Leveson-lovers from their name, would you? The EU’s version of Hacked Off is trying to have a directive passed by the European Commission that would have a drastic impact on media moguls. They are demanding:

1. Effective legislation to avoid concentration of ownership in the media and advertisement sectors;
2. Guaranteed independence of supervisory bodies, with a politically and culturally balanced and socially diverse membership;
3. Definition of conflict of interests with media ownership;
4. Broadcast, print and online media should be required to submit to a national media authority sufficient ownership information to allow identification of the beneficial and ultimate owners of media outlets.

Of course Hugh Grant is involved, meeting here with Neelie Kroes, the European Commission’s ‘Big Sister’:

Germany’s Axel Springer media group reaches 52% of the population via Bild alone, Berlusconi in Italy owns 3 out of 7 broadcast channels. Their real goal is betrayed in the ‘about’ section of their website: “Some, notably the UK, suffer from problems of excessive concentration leading to undue influence of certain economic groups, notably Murdoch’s media empire, over political processes”. Arguably Berlusconi’s media empire has more influence over political processes.  By coincidence all three media groups are, to varying degrees, right-of-centre and sceptical of Brussels…