(WAN/IFEX) – On 20 October 1998, WAN released this press release on the occasion of the introduction of a proposal to create a World Press Council: A proposal to create a World Press Council to hear transnational complaints against media has been roundly criticised by a leading group of the world’s newspaper editors. Such a […]
(WAN/IFEX) – On 20 October 1998, WAN released this press release on the
occasion of the introduction of a proposal to create a World Press Council:
A proposal to create a World Press Council to hear transnational complaints
against media has been roundly criticised by a leading group of the world’s
newspaper editors.
Such a council, which would establish a code of ethics, could be used by
governments that already restrict press freedom to further limit free
expression, said John M. Simpson, Chairman of the World Editors Forum (WEF,
a WAN associated body), the global group dealing with issues of professional
concern to senior news executives.
Simpson was among news executives who met in Arlington, Virginia, last week
with David Flint, the Chairman of the Executive Council of the World
Association of Press Councils (WAPC).
The meeting was held to discuss proposals made at a WAPC conference in
Turkey last month to create an international body to hear complaints
against publications and broadcasts that cross national borders. The body
would also attempt to create international standards and codes of ethics.
A working party composed of WAPC leaders from Australia, Turkey and Egypt
will next consider the feasibility of establishing “a voluntary mechanism
for the mediation and resolution of transnational complaints [about] the
conduct of the media.”
Such a World Press Council would restrict the free flow of information and
would not be supported by world editors, Simpson said, adding that the
proposed system could be abused by countries that already restrict the
press. “In a world context, the very real danger is that if there is some
sort of proposed norm that is written down and codified, it will be used and
cited not by the United Kingdom, not by Australia, but precisely by the
Egyptians, the Nigerians and other countries to shut down and persecute
journalists in their own countries and probably to preclude access on the
part of international journalists,” Simpson said.
“The best thing to do is to let journalists practice journalism and for
journalists to be self-critical,” he said. “Lord knows we are, and I don’t
understand why institutions need to be set up to funnel complaints to the
media when in fact they can be directed to the various news organizations
themselves and dealt with very appropriately,” he said.
The WEF, created by the World Association of Newspapers in 1994, provides
senior news executives world-wide with an arena in which to exchange ideas
and information about the business of editing newspapers.
