Euromedia Ownership Monitor (EurOMo)

The EurOMo (Euromedia Ownership Monitor) has a single mission: enhance transparency of news media ownership and control in European Union countries.

It monitors media ownership transparency in 15 European countries by publishing:

• a database with information on ownership and control of the most relevant news media in 15 EU countries;
• country reports that assess the level of transparency of this information.

Currently, the EurOMo is a pilot project that will be expanded to cover all EU member states, being regularly updated. It is co-funded by the European Commission as part of the European Democracy Action Plan.

The monitoring instrument draws on the experience of the Euromedia Research Group (EMRG). This is a network of researchers based in EU Higher Education Institutions with over 30 years experience in research and knowledge dissemination on media politics and economics in Europe and beyond, including the operationalisation of the Media for Democracy Monitor (MDM). The EMRG established the research consortium that now operates EurOMo.

Project members

The project is lead by Professor Josef Trappel and Dr. Tales Tomaz from the Department of Communication Studies University of Salzburg, Austria.

Project group:

Marko Ala-Fossi, University lecturer, Tampere University
Marko Junkkari, Senior researcher, Tampere University
Mikko Grönlund, Researcher, University of Turku
Kavan Mäkelä, Research assistant (database), Tampere University
Tuomo Pöllänen, Research assistant (database), Tampere University
Sanni Laine, Research assistant (data), Tampere University
Frans Björkroth, Research assistant (data), Tampere University

Consulting researchers:

Katja Lehtisaari, Tampere University
Kari Karppinen, University of Helsinki
John Grönvall, University of Helsinki
Hannu Nieminen, University of Helsinki