Task Force for Co-ordination of Media Affairs
Publishing industries
Responsibility for the publishing industries has been allocated to DG Information Society and Media. Publishing sub-sectors are as follows: newspapers, periodicals, books, directories and databases. The publishing sector is of major importance to the European Union and its citizens. It has a key economic role to play and is vital to the development and preservation of culture, information, education and democracy at large.
A competitive industry
"European publishing is competitive and well-placed
to contribute towards the development of an Information Society based on
knowledge, in line with the revised Lisbon agenda". Despite the lag in the
availability of official statistics and the rapid evolution of the sector, it is
estimated today that the publishing industries accounts for some 0.5 % of the
gross domestic product across the EU27 Member States, employs around 750,000
jobs in more than 64,000 companies across today’s 27 Member State Union.
An evolving sector
The development of on-line/digital publications
concerns all sub-sectors of the Publishing Industry, be they books, newspapers,
magazines or databases. Free daily newspapers and "Citizens press" on Internet
are also rapidly growing, changing consumers' habits and advertising business
models. To monitor this rapid evolution, the Media Task Force organises meetings and events with representatives of European Editors and
Publishers.
...of concern to the European Citizen
The European Publishing Industries are facing
challenges of direct interest to all citizens. Media pluralism, freedom of
speech, access to information and culture, as well as issues related to the
management of copyrights and the fight against racism and xenophobia have major
societal importance and are one of the main policy building sites for the
European Union.