First, I would suggest, by being more understanding about the chaos and confusion created by rapid
change.
When asked the question directly working journalists in the new democracies said that what they need
most from Western colleagues is moral support. "We ask you to understand that our nation is on the
move and so are its journalists," said one delegate. He went on to ask that he and his fellow
professionals should not be pilloried for the slowness of the move towards achieving a properly free
media (whatever it is!).
I was personally moved by the honesty of that appeal and I hope all delegates will show their unanimity
by making the first signal we send from this seminar a clear unambiguous message: that they do have
and will continue to have our unflinching support.
We must, of course, do much more than that, and during the discussions there were a large number of
both practical and imaginative ideas that might point us in the right direction.
For example, it is clear that there is more financial, political and professional help available than
previously thought. I quote the Council of Europe, the European Union, the agencies of the US
government and a wide range of NGOs. There is, however, a serious danger of overlap leading to an
unhelpful duplication of activities and therefore a waste of precious resources.
Here, Mr Chairman, I hope you will forgive me if I abandon coded language at this point and say quite
bluntly that I would urge western colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic to settle any spurious national
or professional differences in the interest of working together. I think tremendous work is being done by
what, at present, I can only describe as both sides. Imagine what will be possible once we accept that
we're all actually on the same side and genuinely work together.
As the most representative body in the field, it would be helpful if the CSCE was to strengthen its role
as a clearinghouse for all such information.
At the same time, there appears to be a dearth of reliable data about the fast-changing situation across
Europe and the CSCE might consider encouraging one or more of the NGOs to conduct regular media
audits. We saw excellent examples of how this might be presented in documents presented by the Trans
Atlantic Dialogue on European Broadcasting and by the Association of British Editors.
If information is power, we need such information to give us the power to develop both the political
climate and a legal framework in which media freedom can be developed.
Towards creating the political climate in which the journalist and the politician can respect each other's
responsibilities within a democracy, more training - formal and informal - is needed.
A co-ordinated approach to professional training of journalists is urgently needed in some countries.
This is comparatively straight forward and in urging the NGOs to redouble their efforts in this area, we
should also congratulate them on the work they are already doing.
Less easy and, therefore, something the CSCE may consider is some form of training for
parliamentarians and jurists.
There was a strong and clear demand for formal constitutional safeguards for media freedom and it
seems logical that the key people in framing and administrating laws should have a proper dialogue
with those most affected by them.
I was much impressed by a proposal from the International Association for Mass Communication
Research and I commend it to the ODIHR directorate for consideration. The suggestion is that a
judicial colloquium be convened, perhaps on a similar basis to a series recently held under the auspices
of the British Commonwealth Secretariat. This could also serve to reinforce the commitment of CSCE
CSCE ODIHR BULLETIN Vol. 2, No. 1
26
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