The role of the media regulator is to protect democratic values and ensure a fair and transparent environment for the media and public debate. The Council for Media Services' new competence under the Media Services Act to combat disinformation includes initiating and conducting research and analytical activities in the media field in order to monitor and assess the state of the media environment, including the dissemination of disinformation. In this context, the Council plans to publish analytical reports and to establish and develop cooperation with relevant government bodies and civil society organizations.
The European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) working group on online misinformation is led by the Council for Media Services, represented by the Head of the Analytical Department, Stanislav Matějka. The group has produced a number of research reports, guidelines and recommendations related to the preparation of a The Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation. ERGA's report Notions of Disinformation and Related Concepts, published in March 2021, presented guidance for how to find common definitions for the terms disinformation, misinformation or political advertising. The purpose of the document ERGA Recommendations for the New Code of Practice on Disinformation was to contribute to the debate on strengthening the Code of Practice on Disinformation, as well as on new legislation to increase the transparency of online political advertising. A working group led by the Council for Media Services has drafted an ERGA Position Paper on the Regulation on the transparency and targeting of political advertising.
Representatives of the Council for Media Services also represent ERGA on the Permanent Working Group on the Code of Practice on Disinformation. The European Commission has asked ERGA to chair the monitoring and reporting subgroup, which is in charge of drafting the harmonized templates for the documents to be submitted by Codex signatories. At the same time, the sub-group deals with the oversight of the reporting and monitoring of the Codex. Within the scope of the sub-group, ERGA has taken the lead in negotiating the first set of structural indicators together with the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), the European Commission and signatories representing civil society organizations, researchers and fact-checkers.