ACFC/44DOC(2012)001 rev PART IV: LANGUAGE RIGHTS AND MEDIA 40. The media play an important role with regard to the linguistic rights of national minorities. The right to receive and impart information and ideas in a minority language, as stipulated in Article 9 of the Framework Convention, depends on effective opportunities for access to the media. Furthermore, the possibility to receive and impart information in a language one can fully understand and communicate in, is a precondition for equal and effective participation in public, economic, social, and cultural life. Moreover, in order for the language to develop in all domains and serve the speaker as an all-encompassing means of communication, it needs to be present in the public sphere, including in public media. The presence of minority languages in public media further strengthens social cohesion, as it reflects an overall inclusive policy towards minorities, based on recognition and the encouragement of self-recognition. 1. PUBLIC SECTOR MEDIA 41. In order for public service broadcasting to reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity existing within society, it must guarantee an adequate presence of persons belonging to minorities and their languages, including numerically smaller national minorities. This entails granting support to the media and programmes for, by, and about national minorities in minority and majority languages, as well as in bi- or multilingual formats. Minority interests and concerns should also be mainstreamed into regular broadcasts rather than singled out in occasional programmes and mainstream media should engage in broader political discourse of interest to persons belonging to minorities.41 To this end, efforts should be made to recruit and retain journalists with minority backgrounds into mainstream media programmes, and to ensure that minorities are also represented in broadcasting councils. In addition, persons belonging to national minorities should participate in the development of minority language broadcasts to ensure that these programmes adequately reflect the interests and concerns of minority communities. Care should be taken to produce quality minority language programmes that are attractive to a wide audience, and to ensure that they are broadcast at convenient times.42 42. As broadcasting in minority languages often requires supplementary efforts for translation and the development of adequate terminology, budget allocations for such programmes must be adjusted.43 Access of minority organisations and media outlets to public funding must be facilitated by ensuring that exemptions from general criteria may apply, such as minimum area of distribution or broadcast, or specific conditions for participation in tenders.44 Special attention should be paid to the needs of numerically smaller minorities or particularly vulnerable groups such as Roma communities that usually have very limited access to media in their own languages and suffer from a lack of qualified journalists trained to work in a minority language. When the media play a central role in an ongoing process of linguistic revitalisation, resolute public support is needed. Authorities should provide increased funding to organisations or media outlets representing these minorities in order to bring their identity, language, history and culture to the attention of the majority. 43. The Advisory Committee notes that several countries have adopted substantial quotas for broadcasting in the official language(s). While acknowledging the legitimacy of the aim of promoting the official language(s), the Advisory Committee has consistently underlined in its findings that special provisions should be put in place to ensure that the linguistic rights of 41 Third Opinion on Croatia. Second Opinion on Romania. 43 Third Opinion on Hungary. 44 Third Opinion on the Russian Federation and Third Opinion on Austria. 42 14