GDPR: protect your press office from penalties and legal risks

5 reasons why Mediaddress is the only database that guarantees GDPR compliance

Subscribing to the Mediaddress service means guaranteeing the legal security of your company, or of the clients on whose behalf you operate as an external press office.

1. Mediaddress is the Data Controller for collection and processing

It is Mediaddress, as the database provider, that takes on the responsibility of collecting data, managing it and providing journalists with the mandatory privacy notice. It guarantees that journalists have been informed that their data is included in a database intended to be consulted by third parties (subscribers) for the purposes of communication and press release distribution.

The benefit for you: you do not need to worry about obtaining consent or providing the initial privacy notice to journalists, which you would otherwise have to do, simply by having them on your list. You only need to use the data in a manner consistent with the purposes described in the subscription, namely the sending of relevant press releases and not generic marketing.

2. Management of Data Subjects' Rights (deletion and updates)

Journalists change outlet, role, or may exercise their right to erasure. In 2025 alone we carried out over 170,000 verifications and 80,000 database updates. If a journalist requests deletion, Mediaddress removes them from the system.

The benefit for you: you have access to always up-to-date and compliant data, avoiding the risk of unlawful sends, with consequent reputational damage and administrative penalties of up to €20 million or 4% of turnover.

3. IT and infrastructure security

GDPR requires adequate measures to protect data. Mediaddress is an ISO 27001 certified company and guarantees the security of the IT system that stores and manages its journalist database and all data uploaded by users.

The benefit for you: you spare your company the technical complexity of protecting contacts on its internal servers.

4. Support for "culpa in vigilando" (duty of supervision)

Companies have a responsibility to choose reliable suppliers.

The benefit for you: by choosing Mediaddress you can demonstrate that you have selected a partner that provides clear privacy notices to journalists and invests in regulatory compliance, thereby protecting your company's reputation.

5. Limitation of User Liability

Responsibility for the legitimacy of data retention falls on Mediaddress. Please note: this applies solely to contacts provided by Mediaddress and not to those uploaded by the user to the platform.

The benefit for you: you only need to ensure you do not deviate from the purposes of use set out in the licence (for example, not using the data for marketing communications).

In summary: why choose Mediaddress to comply with GDPR?

• Privacy notice already managed: Journalists already know why their data is in the database.
• Always up-to-date data: You avoid the legal risk of contacting someone who has opted out.
• Clear responsibilities: You focus on the content of the press release, we take care of data validity.