(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN and World Editors Forum (WEF) joint letter to President Ion Iliescu and Prime Minister Adrian Nastase: His Excellency Ion Iliescu President of Romania Email: ioniliescu@presidency.ro The Right Honourable Adrian Nastase Prime Minister of Romania Email: webmaster@gov.ro 24 May 2002 Your Excellency, Dear Prime Minister, We are writing on […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN and World Editors Forum (WEF) joint letter to President Ion Iliescu and Prime Minister Adrian Nastase:
His Excellency Ion Iliescu
President of Romania
Email: ioniliescu@presidency.ro
The Right Honourable Adrian Nastase
Prime Minister of Romania
Email: webmaster@gov.ro
24 May 2002
Your Excellency,
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our serious concern at the potential impact of excessive media regulation initiated by Defence Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu.
According to reports, a law that could have a significant, negative impact on the press is being
considered by the Romanian parliament. The introduction of the law is under the guise of a ‘right to reply’, although such a provision already exists under Romanian law. Indeed, a right to reply is incorporated into the deontological code of the Romanian Press Club and directly into many newspapers’ statutes.
We are concerned that the law introduced by Mr Pascu, who has recently been very critical of aspects of freedom of the press and has called for greater ‘control’ of newspapers, proposes to create a right to reply to published opinions, not simply incorrect facts, and to lay journalists and newspapers open to claims for punitive damages even when the right to reply has been exercised.
While believing that correcting errors is integral to a publication’s credibility, the proposed legislation would open a right of action for anyone believing themselves to have been criticised to force a newspaper to publish their point of view. We respectfully note that such a system would be unfair, unworkable and would place an intolerable burden on newspapers.
We respectfully call on you to do everything in your power to ensure that Mr Pascu’s proposed legislation is not enacted. Romania has perfectly adequate right to reply safeguards and we believe that adopting stricter legal controls may pose a serious threat to freedom of expression in your country.
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours sincerely,
Roger Parkinson
President
World Association of Newspapers
Gloria Brown Anderson
President
World Editors Forum
Recommended Action
Similar appeals can be sent to:
His Excellency Ion Iliescu
President of Romania
E-mail: ioniliescu@presidency.ro
The Right Honourable Adrian Nastase
Prime Minister of Romania
E-mail: webmaster@gov.ro
Please copy appeals to WAN.
