No media attached. Please contact WAN-IFRA for more information.
WAN-IFRA,
the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, joins forces
with a group of leading associations representing the audience
measurement ecosystem to support the European Union in its efforts to
reform the ePrivacy Directive. The Coalition for Audience Measurement is
composed of global and European associations representing the interests
of stakeholders that use audience measurement to help finance news
media offers to the public.
“In
the digital age, our business models require the transparent and secure
use of data. An independent press that serves Europe’s public interest
must be able to compete effectively with its global competitors.
Audience measurement is an
essential tool for the industry,” said Gerald Grünberger, Chair
of WAN-IFRA’s Member Associations Directors Committee.
Audience
measurement is a vital tool for media companies to analyse traffic
flows and content performance. The coalition sets out to inform
lawmakers about the functions of audience measurement and the value it
brings to society. Specifically, without those measurements, media
organisations would not be able to prove their comparative value to
their partners, and advertisers would be prevented from measuring the
effectiveness of their ad placements. If news media companies cannot
reliably track the performance of their websites, their capacity to
secure revenues to finance their online operations will be seriously
hampered.
The
first statement of the Coalition focuses on the distinction between
first- and third-party audience measurements in the current proposal for
an ePrivacy regulation. The former is the object of an exemption from
burdensome user consent obligations, the latter is not. Only a few,
mainly US-based, service providers can offer a first-party service, and
thus benefit from the exemption, while most service providers and news
media instead use trusted third-party suppliers to provide audience
measurements on their behalf.
If
the text is not changed to extend the exemption to third parties, end
users will be faced with incessant
requests for consent when visiting news media websites, the accuracy of
measurements will be greatly diminished, and the value of the websites
will be difficult to prove to partners and investors.
The
Coalition for Audience Measurement will likely continue its work
throughout the negotiations to adopt a new ePrivacy Regulation. The full
list of members, a more detailed analysis, and the statement can be
found here: http://www.wan-ifra.org/eprivacy_reform.
WAN-IFRA
is the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.
Its mission is to protect the rights of journalists across the world to
operate free media, and provide its members with professional services
to help their business prosper in a digital world and perform their
crucial role in open societies. With formal representative status at the
United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe, it derives its
authority from its global network of leading news publishing companies
and technology entrepreneurs, and its legitimacy from its 80 national
association members representing 18,000 publications in 120 countries.
WAN-IFRA's Media Policy
department monitors the interactions of freedom of expression
and information with other human rights. It provides its members with
strategic insights about regulatory developments that can get in
conflict with freedom of information and protection of journalists.
Privacy is a prime focus area of WAN-IFRA, along with data protection,
right to be forgotten, intellectual property, and Internet governance.
To read more about WAN-IFRA's policy activities, visit http://www.wan-ifra.org/policy .
Contact - Inquiries Elena Perotti, Executive
Director Public Affairs and Media Policy, WAN-IFRA elena.perotti@wan-ifra.org
Distributed by Pressat
No media attached. Please contact WAN-IFRA for more information.