{"id":260,"date":"2013-11-26T00:44:01","date_gmt":"2013-11-26T00:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/?p=260"},"modified":"2013-11-26T00:44:01","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T00:44:01","slug":"journalism-and-media-freedoms-in-difficult-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/journalism-and-media-freedoms-in-difficult-times\/","title":{"rendered":"JOURNALISM AND MEDIA FREEDOMS IN DIFFICULT TIMES"},"content":{"rendered":"

The annual Congress of the Association of European Journalists, the AEJ<\/a> , of which I have been a long-time member, was held in Brussels on November the 22nd<\/sup> and 23rd<\/sup> this year. Its very timely theme was \u201cJournalism and democracy in a time of flux\u201d.<\/p>\n

In his opening speech, Torbjorn Froysnes, Council of Europe Ambassador to the EU, reminded the congress how much the media scene has changed since the early days of the Council of Europe (CoE).\u00a0 The CoE, formed as a regional body of 10 member countries, wrote the basic commitments to protect human rights, democracy, pluralism and independent judiciary into a convention.<\/p>\n

Today, there are several new issues to be considered and legal and political responses to be formulated.<\/p>\n

Among them, there are recent examples of leaks, whistle-blowing, state-surveillance and resulting interference with journalists\u2019 freedom of expression. In particular, failure to protect journalistic sources is now very much under the spotlight.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Froysnes told the Congress that threats to the safety of journalists and impunity for their perpetrators have also brought further obligations to member states to safeguard life.<\/p>\n

The AEJ Congress discussed serious attacks against media freedom in Europe. Chaired by William Horsley, the AEJ Media Freedom Representative, three leading experts spoke about what has been done to provide a safe environment for journalism, what further action is needed and how widespread use of surveillance by state intelligence agencies is hampering the work of investigative journalism.<\/p>\n

CoE legal expert Onur Andreotti said that violations of the rights of journalists had consequences beyond their profession; it impacted on entire society and the freedom of expression for all.<\/p>\n

In Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, journalists are included in the term \u201ceveryone\u201d, but there is increased protection, provided by the Court.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s duty is not merely to refrain from interference but also to provide positive measures of protection for journalists.<\/p>\n

It was seen in the Dink vs. Turkey case in 2010. The Court found that the state authority\u2019s failure to prevent the murder of the journalist constituted a violation.<\/p>\n

Governments have a duty to make sure all reasonable steps are taken to protect evidence. This was not the case in Hrant Dink\u2019s case. Dink family lost confidence in the national justice system and decided to boycott the court proceedings.<\/p>\n

Andreotti again emphasised the obligations of states to prevent violations being committed; to guarantee the right to life, to put in place an effective criminal law and to act against impunity by launching an effective investigation. That investigation should be independent and prompt, because delayed justice is denied justice.<\/p>\n

Andreotti said the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights relating to the protection and safety of journalists is important, and as a result of court judgements many states, including Turkey, have since changed their laws.<\/p>\n

As William Horsley, the AEJ Media Freedom Representative pointed out, it was important for the Court to have influence with its rulings. Journalists needed something more than court decisions; they demanded effective protection and timely justice, too.<\/p>\n

The principles drawn from the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights are very much under the spotlight. Several cases refer to Turkey and the way the Erdogan government is conducting itself recently, it is likely there will be plenty more Turkey related cases in future.<\/p>\n

On the 12th<\/sup> December, there will be a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to discuss the safety of journalists. There is also a project underway to create a web-platform that may work as an alert system.<\/p>\n

The AEJ Congress heard from Ides Debruyne, Director of Journalismfund.eu, an independent non-profit organisation, promoting high-quality, investigative journalism in Europe. \u00a0\u00a0Journalismfund recently completed a study on how fraudulent use of EU funds could be deterred through investigative journalism. \u00a0Ides Debruyne called on the European policymakers to do more to facilitate investigative journalism and work towards a bigger budget for promotion of freedom of speech.<\/p>\n

Jean-Paul Marthoz, a Belgian journalist and senior advisor to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), talked about the impact of mass surveillance practices on investigative journalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cAggressive surveillance and pursuit of leaks created a chilling environment for journalists\u201d Marthoz told us. . People are now afraid to provide information to journalists in case their identities might become public one day. This has created a serious problem for journalists who need to robustly double-check their information and go beyond spinning to establish facts.<\/p>\n

A subject much under discussion in Brussels was very relevant to Turkey, too. Who oversees the security services? \u00a0Jean-Paul Marthoz asked if there will be a reform of the system in countries like the US or whether it was already too late to do it<\/p>\n

Marthoz recommended a Washington Post investigation titled: Top Secret America. The national security and intelligence systems have grown so big, technology has become so complex and sophisticated, and it is no longer taken-for-granted that the system fulfils its main purpose of keeping citizens safe.<\/p>\n

The media in the US and the UK may no longer be inspirational to other countries but at least in those countries the debate is lively.<\/p>\n

It is difficult to say the same about many other CoE member countries, including Turkey, where it is becoming increasingly difficult to write and talk about lack of checks and balances when it comes to national security issues.<\/p>\n

The AEJ Congress discussed the future of media and media funding, too.<\/p>\n

Andrzej Krajewski, Free Speech advisor to the Polish Broadcasting Regulator KRRITAndrzej Krajewski talked about a sharp reduction in journalism jobs in Europe and in the USA, with a greater proportion of PR material finding its way to the news coverage.\u00a0 Cheaper to produce discussion programmes were replacing news programmes. Celebrity gossip, reality shows and cooking demonstrations were turning the media non-political and simplistic.<\/p>\n

Krajewski feared that in a few years\u2019 time, the slide in media standards would erode the democratic system.\u00a0 \u201cSaving the media should be seen as saving democracy\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 51st <\/sup>AEJ Congress in Brussels was presented a yearly account of the media situation in Turkey. The AEJ Turkey called Gezi protests a body-blow for media freedom in Turkey. Both the state security forces and pro-government media behaved badly. Social media has gained ground as the most effective disseminator of news.<\/p>\n

Civil war in Syria posed extra risks for safety of the journalists in Turkey. The Turkish AEJ has been organising\u00a0 campaigns for the release of two journalists, Basher Kadumi, lost in Syria, and Metin Turan, detained in Egypt.<\/p>\n

The AEJ General Assembly passed two resolutions this year.<\/p>\n

The AEJ General Assembly applauded the recent revelations by Edward Snowden and other whistle-blowers and denounced the widespread and secret snooping by state intelligence agencies, condemning intrusions on freedom and privacy.<\/p>\n

The AEJ General Assembly condemned the crackdown on media representatives and human rights activists in some European countries including Azerbaijan, Belarus and Russia, called on Azerbaijan to release Rashad Ramazanov, Sardar Alibeyli and Ilgar Mamedov, and to end investigation against Anar Mammadli, Bashir Suleymanli and Elnur Mammadli.<\/p>\n

The AEJ resolution urged the Council of Europe to postpone Azerbaijan\u2019s forthcoming chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers in May 2014 if it continues to treat its dissenting voices with a blatant disregard for human rights, democratic values and the rule of law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The annual Congress of the Association of European Journalists, the AEJ , of which I have been a long-time member, was held in Brussels on November the 22nd and 23rd this year. Its very timely theme was \u201cJournalism and democracy in a time of flux\u201d. In his opening speech, Torbjorn Froysnes, Council of Europe Ambassador […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}