(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Bruges, Belgium, 27 May 2002 Press Freedom Weakened by Western Democracies Western democracies are undermining freedom of expression in the mistaken belief their actions will aid the fight against terrorism, the President of the World Association of Newspapers said Monday. “The repressors of the free press […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
Bruges, Belgium, 27 May 2002
Press Freedom Weakened by Western Democracies
Western democracies are undermining freedom of expression in the mistaken belief their actions will aid the fight against terrorism, the President of the World Association of Newspapers said Monday.
“The repressors of the free press have found all the inspiration and justification that they needed even in developed democracies like the US and Britain, where the governments have called on the media to refrain from broadcasting or printing the self-justifying messages of Osama bin Laden,” said WAN President Roger Parkinson, at the opening of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum.
“If one clear message about information needs to come out of the war on terrorism, it is not that we should all shake in our boots about the ravings of bin Laden, and seek to keep as quiet as possible about them, but that the international community should put all its political weight and money behind every effort to bring down the barriers and obstacles to the free flow of information and ideas,” he said.
Mr Parkinson called for a reversal of the current trend, and more support for “independent news enterprises needed to distribute free information widely to populations kept until now in darkness.”
“The breeding grounds of international terrorism are by and large those countries where the right to free expression, to the free flow of information, to open discussion, and to the free press through which these rights are exercised, are systematically outlawed and crushed,” he said.
“It is in darkness, in obscurity, in silence, without opposition, that the terrorists hatch their deadly plans.”
Mr Parkinson said: “It is no accident that bin Laden operated out of a country which had totally outlawed free expression, information and debate, nor that the regimes most supportive of his and other terrorism networks are among the most repressive in the world.”
“Here, in our view, is the real battleground for the democratic nations,” he said. “It is a battle for the liberation of free information and debate, which is the best antidote against obscurantism and fanaticism and the terrorism which it provokes.”
Mr Parkinson said the United States’ policies in the wake of September 11 had contributed to the increasing threats to press freedom.
“The United States, which in recent years had made the defence of free expression one of the cornerstones of its diplomacy and foreign aid efforts, has done a brisk about-turn. This change of mood and policy is illustrated in its attitude to the Qatar TV station al-Jazeerah. That station, praised until then as a model of free expression in the Arab world, suddenly became one that had to be muzzled as soon as it did not confine itself to relaying the American line, but gave air time to bin Laden.”
“The new understanding that the United States is extending to authoritarian governments known for the suppression of free speech is another negative consequence of the fight against terrorism,” he said.
“Dwelling on the attitude and actions of the American government, when the world is full of real villains, might seem unfair, were it not for the immense power and influence that the US wields on the global stage and the effects its policies and example have on so many other countries,” Mr Parkinson said.
He gave several examples:
–Singapore, which has praised the “healthy guided censorship” which it sees in new US information policies;
–Zimbabwe, seeking to justify repression against independent journalism, which said, “if the most celebrated democracies in the world won’t allow their national interests to be tampered with, we will not allow it too.”
–Italy, where former Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero praised the “example” of Tunisia’s dictators in the fight against terrorism.
“The consequence is a new danger that the fight against terrorism may relegate press freedom to the background, when actually it is one of our best bulwarks against violence and hatred,” said Mr Parkinson.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 71 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 100 countries, 13 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.
