(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is a WPFC press release: World Press Freedom Committee Urges Respect for Media Independence in Iraq The World Press Freedom Committee today cautioned the rebuilders of Iraq to show their commitment to democracy by ensuring that free and independent news media are fostered as rapidly as possible. “A prerequisite for putting […]
(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is a WPFC press release:
World Press Freedom Committee Urges Respect for Media Independence in Iraq
The World Press Freedom Committee today cautioned the rebuilders of Iraq to show their commitment to democracy by ensuring that free and independent news media are fostered as rapidly as possible.
“A prerequisite for putting any democratic system in place is creation of free and independent media to provide information for newly liberated Iraqi citizens and a medium for discussion of political ideas and constitutional concepts, so that parties and leaders can emerge in public space,” said WPFC Chairman James H. Ottaway, Jr.
Pointing to past media reconstruction lessons of Bosnia and Kosovo, Ottaway said “any transitional authorities in Iraq should adopt a hands-off policy toward the press and encourage its full independence.”
When the international regimes were instituted in Bosnia and later in Kosovo, WPFC protested the imposition of external controls over local independent news outlets.
“There must be no (such) repetition of situations in which transitional authorities have acted as organizers, judges and juries over news media — including censorship and making critical judgments on media reporting and criticisms of those same authorities,” Ottaway said today.
Ottaway’s full statement follows:
The Future of the Iraqi Press
By James H. Ottaway, Jr.
Chairman
World Press Freedom Committee
April 16, 2003
The United States, the United Nations, any Iraqi interim governmental authority and all others involved in the reconstruction of Iraq need to show their commitment to democracy in Iraq by fostering free and independent news media there as rapidly as possible.
A prerequisite for putting any democratic system in place is the creation of free and independent media to provide information for newly liberated Iraqi citizens and a medium for discussion of political ideas and constitutional concepts, so that parties and leaders can emerge in public space.
The guiding principle for news media arrangements should be Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It provides that “everyone has the right … to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Adoption of a clear constitutional guarantee supporting free and independent news media and incorporating the principles of Article 19 should be encouraged.
Legislation and/or constitutional guarantees of maximum public access to public government information should also be encouraged.
To avoid repetition of the mistakes of foreign governmental or intergovernmental controls over local news media in such post-conflict zones as Bosnia and Kosovo, any transitional authorities in Iraq should adopt a hands-off policy toward the press and encourage its full independence. There must be no repetition of situations in which transitional authorities have acted as organizers, judges and juries over news media — including censorship and making critical judgments on media reporting and criticisms of those same authorities.
To those ends, a number of practical arrangements should be undertaken:
– Iraqi state radio and television and news agencies should be transformed into public services, with statutes and interim independent boards or other similar independent authorities designed to insulate the work of journalists from political and other pressures.
– A system should be established to award broadcast frequencies to private individuals and associations of broadcasters to create stations in competition with public service broadcasters — thus creating conditions for the kind of mixed public and private broadcasting landscape that is the norm in most established democracies.
– UNESCO, the UN system’s designated lead agency in communications, should be assisted in its announced intention to survey Iraqi needs in the print and broadcast news media in Iraq, with a view to the rapid development of projects to aid the press, such as cooperative printing press establishments to print independent newspapers, independent press distribution systems, and journalism training and retraining programs — with experienced world professionals, news media entities and press freedom advocacy organizations as co-sponsors and co-implementers.
– Financing for such projects should be sought on an urgent basis from development agencies, foundations and other appropriate donors.
It should be understood that information ministries are not normal in established democracies, even if they may be deemed necessary during transitional periods. Normal arrangements include the naming of governmental spokesmen and agencies to administer such technical communication means as broadcasting facilities and frequency allocations in a fair and reasonable manner.
Any journalist associations, professional bodies or trade unions should be organized by the members of the profession themselves. Any standards, guidelines or norms they may wish to adopt should be of their own free choice.
[WPFC adds: We would like to suggest that other organizations endorse this statement. This can be done by sending an e-mail indicating this support to Mgreene@wpfc.org.
We plan to circulate the statement widely among officials at the US State Department, UN, UNESCO, etc., and by doing so hope to avoid some of the press freedom problems that international overseers imposed in Bosnia and Kosovo.]
