|
Association of European Journalists |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
UK Section |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
AEJ Media Freedom Workshop in Dublin brings freedom
threats into focus |
||
|
London, 14 November 2007 The AEJ’s Media Freedom Workshop was
held on 10 November as the final session of the Dublin Congress. About 100 members
debated the growing threats to journalistic freedom from undue interference
and censorship. The OSCE’s Media Freedom Representative Miklos
Haraszti welcomed as “excellent” the AEJ’s 20-country
Survey Goodbye to Freedom? William Horsley, the
Survey’s editor, was in the chair.
PART ONE of the Workshop, called Watchdogs
or Lapdogs?, focused on political, legal and commercial pressures on the
media. Here are some highlights: Miklos Haraszti said murders and assaults against
journalists are the paramount danger to media freedom in the OSCE area. All
European governments should protect journalists by de-criminalising libel
laws. Paul Gillespie, Foreign Policy Editor of The
Irish Times, said the paper had acted in the public interest when it published
its controversial article about payments made to Bertie Ahern, the Prime
Minister, as minister of finance back in 1993. If the paper were to reveal
its source its credibility would be severely damaged. Manana Aslamazyan, President of Internews Europe
and co-author of the Russia Report in the AEJ Survey, ran a foundation
in Teodora Stanciu from |
|
PART TWO of the Workshop, entitled
Media for John Horgan, the newly-appointed Press
Ombudsman of Ireland, said journalists should resist pressures to write
stories that are biased or unethical. And journalists should develop a keener
sense of responsibility to avoid careless acts of defamation and intrusions
into privacy. Tomas Vrba from the Kyriakos Pierides and Hasan Kahvecioglu, who
jointly produce a bi-lingual radio programme on Miklos Haraszti said the great structural threat
to media freedom in the former Soviet Union was the lack of media diversity
as the old state monopolies still dominate the scene in new guises. In
western Europe new dangers have appeared from new media owners seeking to use
the media unscrupulously for partisan interests. Régis Verley from William Horsley, the AEJ Media Freedom
Representative, received unanimous support from AEJ members for plans to lead
the Association in more active research, exchange of information and
campaigning on media freedom issues in cooperation with the Council of Europe
and the OSCE’s Media Freedom Representative. ________________________________________________ The newly-formed AEJ Media Freedom
Network, made up of active members in all national sections, will follow
up on the successful Survey through projects on selected topics and
themes. They will form the subject of further special AEJ meetings and a follow-up
debate at the 2008 AEJ Congress. |
|
See also Survey page and
the news item, European journalists’ report |
||
|
|
|
|