Where do you get your news and how independent do you think it is? The age of everybody reading a newspaper is long gone, but consumption of news media is high and has a big impact on us and our societies. Reporters without Borders recently documented how social and political tensions are fuelled by social media and new opinion media in countries, including France. It also says that suppression of independent media is contributing to a sharp polarisation in so-called illiberal democracies, citing Poland as one example. The European Commission recently presented groundbreaking proposals for new laws that aim to protect editorial independence, boost transparency on media ownership and strengthen independent media regulation. We discuss them with two MEPs.