Fwd: Conference on Media and Conflict in the Transcaucasus

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Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 22:47:23 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Fwd: Conference on Media and Conflict in the Transcaucasus

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

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Fwd: Conference on Media and Conflict in the Transcaucasus
 

--------------Forwarded message----------------
From: Media and Democracy Programme <[email protected]>

EUROP=C4ISCHES MEDIENINSTITUT e.V.
THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTE FOR THE MEDIA
INSTITUT EUROP=C9EN DE LA COMMUNICATION
 
D=FCsseldorf, 23 November 1998
 
Press Release
 
Media and Conflict in the Transcaucasus
 
The European Institute for the Media, with the financial assistance of
the European Union, conducted a conference on the 14th and 15th of
November in Moscow, entitled "3Media and Conflict in the
Transcaucasus". Twenty journalists, editors and representatives of
journalistic organisations were invited to attend from Abkhazia,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia. Also
in attendance were Russian journalists and representatives of various
non-governmental organisations with interests in the region.

The main purpose of the conference was to gather a selection of
journalists from the region together to discuss their own ideas on the
role of the media during conflict and to put forward suggestions on
how the current situation could be improved. The three main themes of
the conference were:
 
- Relations between journalists and the authorities and how they can
be ameliorated.

- Standards of professionalism and what can be done to avoid
hate-speech.

- Cooperation of journalists in different regions.
 
The Director General of the European Institute for the Media,
Professor Bernd-Peter Lange, and the Deputy Head of the Delegation for
the European Commission to Russia, Gilbert Dubois, gave the opening
remarks.
 
The role of the media in covering conflict and in aiding to resolve
tensions was hotly debated. In particular, the question of how
nationality and ethnicity influence reporting on an individual level
was the subject of some controversy. Many of those participating felt
that the role of journalist and politician were often conflated in
conflict situations.
 
However, stark differences in the conditions in which the media exist
in different parts of the region naturally led to different emphasis
over what is needed. The Abkhaz journalists felt that the media there
required concrete financial assistance and that until basic
communications were restored to normal, there could be little
improvement in their ability to adequately cover the political
situation. They were also, in common with some other participants, in
favour of finding international assistance to set up an All-Caucasus
news agency and a regional broadcaster. This would be an agency which
would have representatives from all regional groups, which they felt
would be a step forward in communication between the conflicting
regions.
 
The Azerbaijani and Armenian journalists, however, were in general not
in favour of such a step. Their experience of such foreign-funded
ventures, however well-meant, was that they created extra competition
for already strained existing media, and that their artificial nature
made them vulnerable to closure when such funding was removed. They
favoured assistance to existing media organisations, in order to help
them improve the lines of communication between differenct regional
media organisations.

In general, participants called for more assistance on the level of
training in professionalism, including the dissemination of new ideas
and contemporary texts on journalism, mechanisms to improve the
exchange of information between journalists working in different
regions and more international attention to be directed to their
problems and difficulties regarding freedom of speech.
 
The Institute disseminated to the participants the declarations of the
Council of Europe "On the Protection of Journalists in Situations of
Conflict" and "On the Portrayal of Violence in the Electronic Media". 

Dusan Reljic, Head of the Media and Democracy Programme at the
Institute, and author of the recently published "Killing Screens:
Media in Times of Conflict", spoke about the obligations of the
authorities to uphold freedom of speech as part of their contract to
join the Council of Europe.
 
Drawing on the experiences gained in this meeting the EIM plans the
following activities:
 
- there are plans to hold annual conferences on this theme, and to
hold it in each country of the Transcaucasus, an idea which was
well-met by the participants.
 
- the EIM will launch new initiatives in the region to enhance the
free flow of information in the region, particularly in news and
current affairs reporting.
 
- the EIM will work with other NGOs on improving the quality and
availabilty of training programmes for journalists, particulary for
newcomers to the profession. Particular attention will be paid to
bringing together young media professionals from the region.
 
- the EIM will seek cooperation with the European Union, the Council
of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation and other
international institutions to stregnthen the awareness of public
authorities in the region in regard to their obligations according to
international documents which they have signed to respect freedom of
expression and the liberty of the media.
 
- the EIM will continue monitoring media performance in these
countries, particulary before elections with the aim of both assisting
the media in improving professional standards and providing evidence
to the international community about the state of media and democracy
in the Caucausus.
 
A publication containing the minutes of the Conference as well as
complementary documents will be produced by EIM as soon as possible.

-- 
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