The News Abroad: Foreign Conflicts, Foreign Publics, & Foreign Coverage

Report of the Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Central, East and Southeast Europe

Chaired by

Ellen Mickiewicz Erhard Busek James R. Shepley Professor of Chairman, European Forum Public Policy Studies Alpbach Director, DeWitt Wallace Center for Special Coordinator, Stability Pact for Media and Democracy, South Eastern Europe Duke University Coordinator, Southeast European Fellow, The Carter Center Cooperative Initiative

Rapporteur – Craig LaMay, Northwestern University

October 13-14, 2006 ,

DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy European Forum Alpbach Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy Invalidenstrasse 5/7 Duke University - Box 90241 A-1030 Vienna Durham, North Carolina 27708 Phone: 43-1-718171114 Phone: 919-613-7330 Fax: 43-1-7181701 Fax: 919-684-4270 www.alpbach.org [email protected] www.media.duke.edu/dewitt

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the following contributors for their support of this meeting: ORF, Österreichischer Rundfunk (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) for hosting the meeting and providing professional assistance; the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe; and the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University. We would also like to thank the Austrian Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs; the City of Vienna; Agrana; and UNIQA Versicherungen AG.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

° Introduction...... 4

° Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Participants ...... 6

° “The News Abroad: Foreign Conflicts, Foreign Publics, & Foreign Coverage” — Report of the Meeting of the Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Central, East and Southeast Europe ...... 9

° Policy Recommendations ...... 15

° About the Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Central, East and Southeast Europe ...... 16

° About the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy...... 17

° About the European Alpbach Forum ...... 18

3 INTRODUCTION

DR. E RHARD BUSEK CHAIRMAN , E UROPEAN FORUM ALPBACH SPECIAL COORDINATOR , S TABILITY PACT FOR SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE COORDINATOR , S OUTHEAST EUROPEAN COOPERATIVE INITIATIVE

The 2006 meeting of the Commission on Radio and TV Policy: Central, East and Southeast Europe dealt with the important question of how to cover news abroad, having in mind especially the coverage of foreign conflicts. Due to the re-escalation of the Middle East conflict, the ongoing fights in Iraq and other crises, the issue was enormously significant.

The Commission discussed journalistic coverage of energy resources, a topic of great importance for all Europe and a continuous source of conflict. The has recently committed itself to a 20 percent reduction in energy consumption by 2020 and to a greater diversity of energy sources that will include especially renewable energy. Thus, the European Union needs a common energy policy in order to be able to deal effectively with players such as and Iran. The Commission also addressed important questions such as “How Far Does Europe’s Foreign Policy Extend?” and whether there is a “European Public.”

The success of the Commission’s work is impressive. The annual meeting in Vienna has become an established platform for the free exchange of views between journalists and political scientists from the U.S., Western and Eastern Europe.

I want to thank Ellen Mickiewicz and her team from Duke University for their excellent cooperation and the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation for hosting the meeting. Many thanks to the supporters of the media conference, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the City of Vienna, Agrana, and UNIQA Versicherungen AG.

4 INTRODUCTION

DR. E LLEN MICKIEWICZ JAMES R. SHEPLEY PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES DIRECTOR , D EWITT WALLACE CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY DUKE UNIVERSITY FELLOW , T HE CARTER CENTER

Matters that had long been considered settled or at least noncontroversial have come back. The Commission on Radio and Television Policy, meeting in Vienna in the fall of 2006, put forward an agenda on covering conflicts of “other peoples.” What are the best ways for foreign journalists to present, insofar as possible, a fair, accurate, reliable, and complete picture of the conflict? Without providing a meaningful context, the reporter shows only a superficial and ultimately incomprehensible bit of reality. For in this time of increasing globalization—a term of disparagement for some and hope for others—how much will borders mean when information leaks out through smaller and smaller technology? Information is not synonymous with news; for the journalist, a heavier responsibility, a heavier burden is the price of the profession.

Journalists often find their prestige wilting at home, because in some countries it is well known that with money a news story can be planted; it can provide favorable coverage or if the payment is not forthcoming, it can ignore the newsmaker or give unfavorable coverage. In some countries participating in the Commission, there is sizable foreign ownership of media which several participants regard as unfortunate; the foreign owners are either too close to the government or too close to pandering to a constantly polled public.

The International Press Institute’s president, Johann Fritz, presented a list of precautions for foreign journalists in danger zones. They included distinguishing between facts and government or rebel propaganda and putting their stories in a real context. These, it seems to me, are hard enough to do, especially when clearly identified journalists who were once avoided by combatants are now deliberately targeted.

I have raised these particular issues because the population at home relies so heavily on its foreign reporters, while the reporters have an increasingly difficult time making a conflict truly intelligible and not superficial and because they are themselves increasingly exposed to danger. Given the rapidly shrinking globe, these critically important news stories have become much more difficult to cover, and that affects both the views of policy makers and of average citizens. The technological revolution giving us ever smaller camera equipment cannot substitute for reporters’ nearly impossible complex understanding of the story while under fire.

This does not seem to be an ephemeral moment in history. It is a dilemma we must solve.

I thank Erhard Busek, Gerald Ro kogler, and the European Forum Alpbach for superlative cooperation. I also wish to thank the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation for hosting the meeting. Many thanks to the supporters of the Commission on Radio and Television Policy: the Austrian Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the City of Vienna, Agrana, and UNIQA Versicherungen AG.

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COMMISSION ON RADIO AND TELEVISION POLICY: CENTRAL, EAST AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE

THE NEWS ABROAD: FOREIGN CONFLICTS, FOREIGN PUBLICS, & FOREIGN COVERAGE

VIENNA, AUSTRIA OCTOBER 13 – 14, 2006

PARTICIPANTS & OBSERVERS

CO-CHAIRS Erhard Busek Chairman, European Forum Alpbach; Special Coordinator, Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Ellen Mickiewicz James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy Studies, Duke University; Director, DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy

PARTICIPANTS Agron Bajrami Editor in Chief, Koha Ditore , Kosovo Dragan Barbutovski Spokesperson, Press and Public Affairs, Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Boris Bergant Deputy General Director, Radio Televizija Slovenija George Chirita Executive Director, Romanian Association of Broadcasters Nuri Colako óóólu Vice President, Dogan Media Group, Turkey; Chairman, TV Broadcasters Association of Turkey Johann P. Fritz Director, International Press Institute, Austria Dušan Gaji ş Coordinator, South East Europe TV Exchanges (SEETV); Co-founder, Mreza Network Production Group, and Montenegro Mikl s Haraszti The Representative on Freedom of the Media, OSCE, Austria Ryszard Holzer Head, “Entrepreneur” Section, Puls Biznesu , Poland Edmundas Juskys Member, Radio and Television Commission of Craig LaMay Commission Rapporteur; Assistant Professor, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, USA Radomir Licina Chairman of the Board and Senior Editor, DANAS, Serbia and Montenegro Petra Lidschreiber Chief Editor, RBB-Television, RBB Rundfunk, Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany Pavol Mudry Director, SITA News Agency, Slovakia Ana Mukoska Analyst, Euro-Balkan Institute, The Republic of Macedonia

6 Daina Ostrovska Director of Programs, TV3, Latvia Pet r Pountchev President of Radio FM+ Group, National Network; Member of the Board of Private Radio Association of Alina Radu Director, Ziarul de Garda , Moldova Tony Reid Assistant Financial Editor, The Washington Post , USA Dominique Roch Chief Correspondent, Jerusalem Bureau, Radio France International Kenneth S. Rogerson Research Director, DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, Duke University, USA Rainer Rosenberg Head of Special Programs, City of Vienna Radio, ORF Dietrich Schwarzkopf Former Program Director, ARD; Former Vice President, ARTE, Germany Andriy Shevchenko Vice President, National TV Company of Savik Shuster Writer and Host, “Freedom of Speech,” ICTV, Ukraine Milan Šmid Professor, Department of Journalism, Charles University, Renaud van der Elst Expert, Working Table II: Economy/Energy, Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Zrinka Vrabec-Mojžeš Anchor and Journalist, Radio 101, Oliver Vujovic Secretary General, South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), Austria

OBSERVERS Kristina Benkotic Project Coordinator, South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), Austria Rudolf Bretschneider Fessel Gfk, Austria Manfred Eulert European Association of Danube Journalists, Austria Ullrich Granser Director Sales, BFE Studio und Medien Systeme GmbH, Siemens AG, Vienna Michael Kress European Association of Danube Journalists, Austria Michael Kudlak International Press Institute, Vienna Susan Milford Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), Austria Knut Neumayer Erste Bank Foundation, Austria Diana Orlova International Press Institute, Vienna Claes Pieper Deutsche Journalistenschule, Germany Carolin Pirich Deutsche Journalistenschule, Germany Catherine Power International Press Institute, Vienna Klaus Proempers ZDF South East Europe, Vienna Anneliese Rohrer Former Chief of Foreign Affairs, Die Presse, Austria Gerald Ro kogler European Forum Alpbach, Austria Mariele Schulze-Berndt Media Spokesperson, European Forum Alpbach, Vienna Peter Surovic European Association of Danube Journalists, Austria

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8 The News Abroad: Foreign Conflicts, Foreign Publics, & Foreign Coverage

Introduction agendas of their own, trying to influence political decisions and public attitudes? Press coverage of violent conflict has been a Nuri Colako ólu, the vice president of Dogan recurring focus of discussion at the Commission on Media Group in Turkey and chair of that country’s Radio and Television Policy for more than a decade. TV Broadcasters Association, opened the first session In October 2006, the Commission returned to the by comparing the news media to a “knife that can kill subject, with fighting in many parts of the Middle you or cure you, depending on how it is used.” In his East, the assassination of Russian investigative own country, Colako ólu said, the news media have reporter Anna Politkovskaya only a week before the been major players in domestic politics since 1960, Commission meeting, and the escalating civil war in first in campaigns for human and civil rights Iraq, to name just a few of the violent events that (including basic free press protections) and today in served as the basis for the Commission’s discussions. the country’s official campaign to join the European For reporters, said Commission co-chair Ellen Union and its cultural one to resist Islamic Mickiewicz, the difficulties of reporting on conflict fundamentalism and Turkish nationalism. Despite a have not eased over the years but instead “grown record of fairly consistent progressivism, he more difficult. How should these conflicts be observed, the Turkish media are very poorly regarded portrayed and explained? With what kind of context by the public, an attitude he attributed to constant and with what audiences in mind? And for domestic public bickering among individual media and the news audiences, how do you convey the seriousness industrial conglomerates that own them. But perhaps of conflicts that happen somewhere else?” most important, Colako ólu said, these conglomerates Complicating these questions is the fact that and their media “have taken over the role of the advances in communications technology over the political opposition” in the country, a position almost past decade have made it possible to show war in real guaranteed to stir resentments. or nearly real time. In 1991, reporters covering the Picking up on Colako ólu’s opening analogy, first Gulf War could transmit stories live, but German broadcast executive Dietrich Schwarzkopf required two hundred pounds of bulky equipment and offered the hopeful view that a knife can “simply be a at least one additional person in order to do so. useful instrument to cut your food.” He seemed to Today, a reporter in Iraq can file live video via agree with his colleague, however, that this satellite using a small hand-held digital video camera. utilitarian, public-service function was at best an The Internet permits instantaneous distribution of idealized norm. In Germany, Schwarzkopf said, audio, video, photographs and text, allowing for large “there are two assumptions with regard to politics, amounts of de-contextualized information to flourish both wrong. One is that politicians can influence alongside professional news reporting. Combatants public opinion if they are good friends with powerful on all sides also use these technologies to “report” media. The second is that the media’s role is to their version of events. In this new world, influence politics in the public interest.” In fact, professional journalism is more essential than ever Schwarzkopf said, Germany’s media cannot by and also more dangerous. According to the themselves either “orient or disorient” government Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 55 officials or the public, nor do they think of any journalists were murdered around the world in 2006; interest other than their own. The government another 30 were killed under suspicious policies and public opinions that result from media circumstances. coverage are both uncontrollable and unpredictable. Importantly, Schwarzkopf added, the agenda-setting Media and Making Politics powers that media do have are not limited to the elite few; to illustrate the point, he cited the impact that The opening session of the Commission meeting scandalous and highly personalized stories in German examined the effects of domestic and international tabloids have had in focusing the government on news coverage on policy makers and the public and issues like welfare reform. Unfortunately, he said, vice versa. Do news media “represent” the views of that focus is often as ad hoc and superficial as the those in government or among their audiences media’s reporting and as quickly moves on to other generally? Or do news media report with matters.

9 Also speaking on the opening panel was Andriy intelligentsia – as a teacher or leader. So for much of Shevchenko, head of the Committee on Free Speech the last 16 years the media in Poland were too in parliament and former vice ’s partisan – too many opinions, too close to National TV Company. His observations about politicians.” If that approach was paternalistic, he journalistic performance in his country two years said, Poles now have a new style of journalism to after the “” echoed those of consider: “Last April [German publisher] Springer Colako ólu and Schwarzkopf before him: “The good launched a new paper in Poland in which they use news for journalists is that they have a much better polls to tell them how to write about politics.” The understanding than politicians of what’s going on. idea that news organizations should identify closely, The bad news is that they don’t use this knowledge to even obsessively, with their audiences has swept provide good information to the audience. In my through U.S. newspapers in recent years, the result of country, public trust of journalists is down one-third marketing research done under the rubric of the from [former President Leonid] Kuchma’s time. Readership Institute, and is also promoted by the Why? ‘Jeans’ – hidden advertisements [that result World Association of Newspapers, among others. from bribes stuffed into the pockets of a reporter’s Holzer clearly was skeptical of the approach: “We jeans]. An article or report may look like a regular will see which is more successful,” he said. story, but was paid for by a politician or company. Against these observations, Commission co- Only two years ago we had a terrible system of chair Erhard Busek, currently director of the Stability censorship and secret government. Now there is no Pact for South Eastern Europe, asked whether censorship, but jeans have much the same effect. journalism in the Balkans would really be any better They are just another way of corruption. The question “on its own,” without the new market players from for journalists is, what do we really produce? News, Western Europe. He noted that except for a very few or profits for our owners?” distinguished media in the region, sensationalism, sex Shevchenko immediately turned this into a and scandal were sins common to most of the rhetorical question: Political journalism in Ukraine indigenous media. The dilemma for everyone is how has become “reactive, not proactive,” he said, and to fix that problem, which Colako ólu identified as journalists have become lazy. “Even the best primarily economic, not professional: “The fixed journalists in the country will report stupid statements costs and initial investments for media firms is very from politicians and let them set the agenda. Where is high, so economies of scale push large companies the interest of the public? Instead journalists worry under the control of even larger ones. As this goes, so about what politicians want to talk about.” does good journalism. Good journalism is very Discussion after the panelists’ remarks examined expensive, and getting the facts right gets more and primarily two subjects: the experience of media more difficult.” organizations in other transition states represented on Commission members further discussed the the Commission; and the effect of international news question of whether international media matter to on domestic politics and audiences, and the variety of domestic audiences; most Commission members news sources – professional, amateur and partisan – thought not, except in exceptional circumstances. now available to audiences everywhere via the Politicians, said Dušan Gaji ş of South East Europe Internet. TV Exchanges, often prefer not to deal with foreign Zrinka Vrabec-Mojžeš of Radio 101 in journalists, thinking that domestic journalists are was one of many who argued that the media “more easily manipulated.” Here, too, said Dietrich transition after the collapse of Communism was far Schwarzkopf, the rule is the same: “There is the from complete, at least in Croatia and other parts of intended context and the one the public takes for the former Yugoslavia. Radio 101, she said, is still itself.” Online communication also blurs the lines very much in the role of political opposition and between “news” and other communications, between public advocate. But where once the station played public and private communications, and can make that role against a handful of “tycoons who were in reasoned and deliberative political discussion all but cahoots with the government leadership,” it now impossible. “By its nature,” Schwarzkopf said, “the finds itself at “war with the German media firm Internet is not representative, but individualized. As a Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), which has result, the press might still sometimes be necessary in aggressively bought up media properties in the an ‘oppositional’ role.” The trick, said Vrabec- country but is not known for high-quality journalism. Mojžeš and Shevchenko, is knowing how to compete “We expected so much,” Vrabec-Mojžeš said, “but successfully in this environment while still investing [the presence of] West European publishers in in high-quality, professional journalism. Croatia didn’t change a thing.” The Polish experience has been similar, said Covering Conflicts Away from Home Polish editor and reporter Ryszard Holzer, “We at first saw ourselves in the Eastern Europe tradition of Co-chair Ellen Mickiewicz focused the

10 Commission’s second session on a single issue: broadcasters and EU public broadcasters, for “How do you make so many conflicts in so many example, do not show horrific images during prime places intelligible to people in your own country, or time and usually decline to show Iraqi civilians but to anyone, anywhere?” Many ethical questions do show soldiers and insurgents. Other media such as followed from this. What guidelines should Al Jazeera believe in showing the full horror of war.” journalists use, for example, in showing dead bodies No one quarreled with Fritz’s prescriptions, but or describing combatants? If those questions were it was clear from the discussion that actually carrying once difficult to answer in the context of national them out could be difficult in the best of situations. media markets more or less separate from one Dominique Roch, chief correspondent in Jerusalem another, in a global media market they are highly for Radio France International, talked about the controversial and potentially inflammatory. charged atmosphere in which reporters from around Johann Fritz, director of the International Press the world compete to tell the story of the Israeli- Institute, offered a detailed analysis of this problem. Palestinian conflict. Virtually every communication Since the breakdown of the communist system, he in that environment, she said, is freighted with said, journalists like policy makers have yet to find “a charged language. Sorting it out and telling the story new compass” with which to orient themselves in the is her job: “When Israelis are doing air raids on Gaza, world. The problem is not one merely of carrying out target killings, the Israeli government understanding and explanation, but of security. communiqué always says these [Palestinians] are Around the world, Fritz said, “combatant groups no ‘terrorists.’ The Palestinians say they are civilians. To longer respect journalists. TV teams used to identify tell the story, you need to be on the scene and get as themselves as press by wearing arm bands or other first-hand information, no matter how dangerous it is identification. Today, this would be an invitation to to do it. being shot. Journalists working in conflict zones must “That is the only way to make the conflict more be trained and well equipped to be there.” intelligible to viewers. Of course, you have to give With respect to reporting, Fritz said, journalists perspective, sequence, historical context, but you also have to “differentiate between facts and government have to tell about regular people on the ground. propaganda. They need to avoid oversimplifying These are human beings, and you have to personalize conflicts in terms of two sides, good and evil. the story. You find out that there is not one side that Comprehensive reporting on conflicts must have a is bad or one side that is good.” broader perspective. Terms like ‘war on terror’ turn Roch noted that her news organization avoids conflict into a morality tale and fail to inform about a words such as ‘terrorists’ or ‘freedom fighters,’ in complex phenomenon.” Choice of language matters. favor of terms such as ‘activists’ or ‘militants,’ but Journalists must be aware that ‘terrorist’ and that some word-choice decisions were much more ‘freedom fighter’ are coined by where a message difficult. “We had problems with written guidelines comes from and so require in-house definitions if from Paris,” she said, “that said we should not use the they are used at all. Journalists have to avoid terms ‘occupied territories’ or ‘disputed territories,’ concentrating only on major events, but should but just ‘territories.’ But at some point you need investigate throughout a conflict zone. historical perspective, and these are occupied “As for showing dead bodies,” Fritz said, territories.” It’s one thing to be fair, she said, another “readers agree that accurate reporting cannot ignore to be “politically correct or neutral.” By doing the disturbing sights.” He noted, for instance, that in the latter, she said, “readers will understand nothing.” United States, public opinion was strongly against the Discussion following the panel focused on the Pentagon’s decision not to provide journalists access ethical question of when and in what context to show to, or photographs of, the caskets of dead military the bodies of war dead – military or civilian. Tony personnel. He noted as well that most news Reid of The Washington Post argued that the organizations seek to avoid “unjustified photographs of flag-draped coffins being returned to infringements on family privacy” in publishing those Dover Air Force base in the U.S. resonated much or any other photographs and that, in some cases, more deeply with American readers than did other, governments have claimed that showing photographs more graphic photos. Roch described her efforts to of dead soldiers is a violation of the Geneva “shock people” with “sensational” stories and Conventions. photographs of children dying in Gaza hospitals in an But once such photos are available, Fritz said, effort to get sanctions lifted on the Hamas the decision to publish should be for journalists government. “I was not proud of myself,” she said, alone. “Journalists should be conservative about “but we are human beings. I am not taking sides, but when and where such photos are published,” he where does it begin to stop?” added, “and obviously the approach depends on the Bulgarian broadcaster Pet r Pountchev added his type of media organization, the type of medium, and view that “professional perspectives” of the kind the intended audience. The majority of U.S. being discussed at the conference were almost always

11 abandoned in newsrooms when normative concerns policy “it is like watching bulldogs fight underneath a met commercial ones. “War,” he said, “has become carpet. We know there are bulldogs fighting under the best reality show on television.” From the first the carpet, but why they are fighting for, who is day’s discussions, the Commission members made winning, and who is fighting with whom, we do not these recommendations: know. So what you write about is mainly speculation, and this doesn’t help you win credibility among 1. News organizations should not, except by readers.” quote, refer to the “war on terror” or other Slovakia also gets most of its energy from political constructs, but rather to individual and Russia, said Pavol Mudry of SITA News Agency, but specific violent conflicts. after the country’s bad experience with a state-run energy industry under former President Vladimir 2. Because journalists have become targets in Meciar, Slovakia decided that partial privatization conflicts, they must be adequately trained, was the best way to avoid corruption, or at least to insured, and equipped for their protection. expose energy policy and practice to greater public scrutiny. “Currently in our gas, oil, and electricity 3. Pictures of all violent clashes can be incomplete markets, we have big multinational partners in France and confusing when they show only one side. If and elsewhere,” Mudry said, “and those partners possible, pictures of both sides should be shown. brought good management. The state owns 51 percent of energy companies but has no management 4. News organizations should develop an internal power, thus solving the problem of corruption and policy on the way the dead, dying or wounded are payoffs.” depicted, including how such pictures are This policy has been only partially successful, displayed. however. Its cancellation of state subsidies for energy has greatly increased costs to consumers. “Now the 5. Security concerns may keep reporters away government has promised to do something about from scenes of conflict, forcing them to rely on energy prices, perhaps to lower them through local people for information that is then published regulation or to subsidize them through other taxes. under the reporters’ bylines. This practice should But it can’t do anything about the prices of products be made clear to readers. coming from [Russian state-owned oil and gas companies] Yukos or .” Additionally, the 6. The practice of taking compensation for Slovakian government has not been able to buy back writing news stories on behalf of influence-seeking the 51 percent of gas pipelines in the country that individuals or organizations is unacceptable. belong to Yukos. A third panelist, Renaud van der Elst of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, also spoke of Reporting on Energy Sources the uncertainty created by Russia’s dominant role in determining the supply and price of gas, oil and In much of the region served by the electricity across Europe. Among other things, he Commission, energy is a major industry and a source said, it has become clear that the Russian state of both economic power and corruption. The Russian monopolies in these industries (Gazprom in government, in particular, said Commission co-chair particular) are poorly managed, with outdated Erhard Busek, will use its vast oil and gas resources infrastructure, and may not be able to deliver on as a source of political leverage. In Poland, said future commitments. Ryszard Holzer, virtually all of the country’s oil and Co-chair Erhard Busek described the larger two-thirds of its natural gas come from Russia. The context of European Commission energy policy in Polish government’s decision to privatize its energy which many of the Commission members now sector has led to Byzantine business arrangements operate. Above all, he said, Europe is committed to a between Polish industrialists, Russian intelligence 20 percent reduction in energy consumption by 2020 officials, the Russian tax authorities, and Ukrainian and to a greater diversity of energy sources that will businessmen with “unclear pasts.” The short of it, include clean-burning coal, nuclear power, and Holzer said, is that Russia effectively exports the significantly greater sources of renewable energy. To corruption in its own energy industries to its control prices, the EC also wants the energy market neighbors. across Europe to be as large as possible, eventually to Polish journalists trying to cover these many include Southeast Europe, Turkey and possibly relationships, Holzer said, are “completely lost.” Part Ukraine. As it seeks to do this, Busek said, the of the problem is the complexity of the story, but as European Union will have to devise an “energy significant are weak information access laws in foreign policy” that supercedes that of its individual Poland. For journalists, Holzer said, covering energy member states and which effectively deals with both

12 Russia and Iran. “Did the coverage of the riots and violence add to our During discussion, several panelists mentioned sense of a European public with common problems?” the political difficulties that come with reporting on Lidschreiber asked, or did it undermine that energy. Alina Radu, director of Ziarul de Garda in perception further. In Germany, she said, “Our Moldova, described an investigative piece her favorite lie is that we are not an immigrant country. newspaper published concerning an illegal no-bid But now, in the second and third generation of government land deal with a Russian energy firm. immigrants, we are seeing young Muslim men The political backlash, she said, was quick and bitter, become political. Because we didn’t experience the with the Moldovan government accusing the riots that Paris did, we viewed them with journalists of undermining the deal. After that, she schadenfreude . But what we do with immigration said, “ a lot of media published nice articles about communities in our insulated little countries is a how good it would be if Russia builds a power plant critical story for our future. Germany has had good in Moldova, but nothing about government relations with Islamic and Arab countries, but not corruption.” anymore. What do we do with this conflict? How do Agron Bajrami added that another important but we define this threat, if it is that? We haven’t even as yet little understood aspect of energy reporting is had time to define a European family identity in order conflict, the central concern of the 2006 Commission to respond. meeting. “As we know, energy has been in the center “Also there is the question of new EU of most of the conflicts in the last couple years. I memberships, especially the Turks. Forty-two years don’t know whether we, as journalists, have been ago the treaty was signed to make Turkey a member, thinking about how to prepare for an environment yet what does one do now that the ‘Muslim factor’ where energy becomes more of a security issue than has become so big? This is something we had not an economic one.” foreseen even five years ago. The fact that [Orhan] If there was a consensus point in the discussion, Pamuk won the [2006] Nobel Prize in literature it was that journalists who cover energy industries opened another debate – Turkey’s handling of its need to cooperate and to share information wherever genocidal past toward Armenian Christians and possible. Energy firms do business in transnational Jews.” Whatever the nature of that opportunity, markets, Ryszard Holzer said. Journalists can most Lidschreiber said, it had been lost with the October effectively cover them by doing the same. 2006 passage of a French law to recognize as “genocide” the Turkish killings of Armenians in Is there a European Public? Anatolia in 1915 and 1916. Germany, too, had considered such legislation, she said, but refrained. The project of European Union is now at least “Europe” is also a difficult subject to cover five decades old, dating to the formation of the institutionally, Lidschreiber said. The many European Coal and Steel Community in 1952. A overlapping governing bodies that comprise series of treaties since then have furthered the cause governance in the EU are a “nightmare for any of continental political and monetary union, with the journalist to report.” Typically she said, reporters result that the current European Union has 27 focus on ridiculous or apocryphal stories about EU members. Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU on bureaucracy, without explaining anything else. In her January 1, 2007, and three other states – Turkey, remarks, Lidschreiber suggested that the important Croatia and Macedonia – have been granted official story about the EU was its undemocratic character, or accession status. A great many critics have long at least public perceptions to that effect: “People in argued that the one thing the European Union lacks is Europe do not have a sense that the European any sense of European identity. That subject was the Parliament is any more than people chatting and focus of the Commission’s fourth session. wasting their tax money. There is no sense that Petra Lidschreiber, chief editor of RBB TV in empowering Parliament will increase public Germany, opened the session by noting that the issue participation in democracy within Europe, and of European “identity” has grown more complex with especially not in ‘old’ Europe. Old and new do exist. European enlargement. Additionally, she said, the Old wants to keep the club small. The larger it gets April 2006 riots in Paris by angry Muslim youth and the more complicated it gets.” violent attacks a few months earlier on Danish, Many in new Europe are not very enthusiastic French, German, Swedish, Belgian and British about European identity either. Croatia joined government and corporate facilities throughout the negotiations to join the EU in 2005, said Zrinka Muslim world in reaction to editorial cartoons Vrabec-Mojžeš, but there “is very low support for depicting Muhammad, only added to the realization membership. During the coalition government of that large immigrant populations, often separated 2000 to 2003 public support was 70 to 80 percent, but from the surrounding society by language, culture, it fell with EU pressure to cooperate with the Hague and economic opportunity, exist throughout Europe. Tribunal, and at one point fell to below 30 percent. If

13 there were a referendum in Croatia today, most would be against membership. It is even worse with 10. Coverage of European affairs should be NATO, with 33 percent for and many more against.” prominent and explain rather than repeat the The most significant factor militating against EU bureaucratic language and documents of membership, Vrabec-Mojžeš said, “is fear of losing European institutions. our national identity. Germans are not less German, or French less French, for being in the EU, but for us Two Commission members, Ryszard Holzer and it is a big deal. We now have our own state, our own Agron Bajrami, dissented on recommendation 8. The sovereignty, and it is hard to give up. For a thousand subject of libel and insult laws has been examined years we were always part of some association – the repeatedly by the Commission over the years, in part Ottoman empire, the Austro-Hungarian empire, because of the use governments throughout the world Yugoslavia. Now that we are independent, joining the make of them, as Holzer put it, to “penalize political EU is a hard sell. The fear is of being pushed back opposition” through prosecutions, often criminal into an association similar to the old Yugoslavia.” prosecutions, and arbitrary fines. In discussion of Milan Šmid of Charles University in Prague these recommendations, however, both Holzer and spoke about Europe from the point of view of one of Bajrami expressed their concern, based on its newest members, and he also expressed strong professional experience and personal observation, doubts about the idea of a European identity. “A that there should be some middle ground between ‘public’ is created by communications and mass absolutes. Obviously, they said, the abuse of insult media, but there is no ‘European media,’” he said. and libel laws by government officials or powerful “After 1989 [Robert] Maxwell started the European , private interests is undesirable. But so, too, they and it was a total disaster because of the diversity of argued, is a policy that does not hold publishers languages and cultures. I still remember the old accountable for unwarranted and false attacks, European Journal of the 1980s, which also failed. I especially when they have the effect of undermining think it will be the task of local media to act as other, constitutionally based, forms of democratic European media, but that is not profitable. Foreign accountability. Bajrami argued that media should not issues are not so attractive to local audiences unless “deliberately target countries and leaders just because there is a scandal somewhere.” they feel they have impunity to do so.” Savik Shuster of ICTV in Ukraine also found little convincing evidence for a European identity, Conclusion especially in a country situated in Eurasia. Fifty- seven percent of think of themselves as The 2006 meeting of the Commission on Radio Europeans, he said, but “it is a total mess in people’s and Television Policy had a distinct subtext of which minds. Ukrainians still face the old problem of being conflict was just a part. The larger discussion between Russia and the West. I felt myself more concerned how journalists are supposed to explain to European studying in Canada than when I lived in readers and viewers a world made larger by . Who is a real European? The only thing we globalization, yet more violent when domestic and have in common is the euro. It is difficult to imagine regional political and economic interests collide. The Europeans like Americans, a melting pot.” Shuster, subject of European identity that closed the too, saw identity closely linked to the performance of conference was in some ways encouraging despite journalism and other mass media: “We need an the panelists’ skepticism; such a conversation would attractive product in which we examine one another’s have seemed fanciful in 1992, when the Commission problems. If it doesn’t happen, there will never be a was founded. The earlier discussion about how to European identity.” represent in text and images a war that virtually From the second day’s discussions, the everyone in the world can now watch in real time – Commission made these recommendations: the “ultimate reality show,” as one Commission member put it – is also new, and no less difficult. 7. Libel and defamation should not be criminal Many of the 2006 Commission discussions came offenses, but civil law actions only. down to how journalists should explain to their audiences their common humanity, or at least their 8. Laws that prohibit insults to countries or common aspirations for a life of freedom and dignity. leaders should be abolished.

9. Media outlets should consider appointing an ombudsman to represent the concerns of the public.

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Recommendations Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Central, East and Southeast Europe October 13-14, 2006

1. News organizations should not, except by 6. The practice of taking compensation for quote, refer to the “war on terror” or other writing news stories on behalf of influence- political constructs, but rather to individual seeking individuals or organizations is and specific violent conflicts. unacceptable.

2. Because journalists have become targets 7. Libel and defamation should not be in conflicts, they must be adequately trained, criminal offenses, but civil law actions only. insured, and equipped for their protection. 8. Laws that prohibit insults to countries or 3. Pictures of all violent clashes can be leaders should be abolished. incomplete and confusing when they show only one side. If possible, pictures of both 9. Media outlets should consider appointing sides should be shown. an ombudsman to represent the concerns of the public. 4. News organizations should develop an internal policy on the way the dead, dying or 10. Coverage of European affairs should be wounded are depicted, including how such prominent, and explain rather than repeat pictures are displayed. the bureaucratic language and documents of European institutions. 5. Security concerns may keep reporters away from scenes of conflict, forcing them to rely on local people for information that is then published under the reporters’ bylines. This practice should be made clear to readers.

15 The Commission on Radio and Television Policy The Commission on Radio and Television Policy was founded in 1990 by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter to encourage democratic media policies and practices. Today, the Commission brings together media practitioners, managers and experts in both the public and private sectors from more than 20 countries in Central, East, Southeast and West Europe and the United States, to discuss and debate alternatives for media policymaking. Ellen Mickiewicz, Director of The DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University, and Erhard Busek, former Vice Chancellor of Austria, director of the European Forum Alpbach, and Special Coordinator for the Stability Pact, co-chair the Commission’s annual meetings. The idea for the Commission was born in the mid-1980s when Dr. Mickiewicz began working with former President Carter on issues of international security and arms control. They discovered that changes in the way the used television signaled an extraordinary departure from past policy. In the fall of 1991, the first official Commission meeting was organized at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, bringing together media practitioners, experts and policymakers from both the United States and Russia. The Commission adopted a unique format. First , it is preceded by a small planning meeting in which a working group examines an emerging media policy issues and identifies the dilemmas and trade-offs involved in varying policy solutions. These form the agenda for the larger Commission meeting. Second , when the Commission meets, it does so to construct a comprehensive menu of policy options and the trade-offs of each so that participating members can consider a range of alternatives to meet local needs. Third , the Commission formulates recommendations which place the policy options in the context of a freer and more responsible media. They move through difficult and often contentious negotiations, from varying positions, to a set of strong recommendations. Since 1991, the Commission has met annually and made substantive recommendations on a range of policy issues, including the following: $ November 1992, Alma Ata, Kazakhstan: Television News Coverage of Minorities $ November 1993, The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia: Changing Economic Relations Arising from Democratization, Privatization, and New Technologies $ September 1994, St. Petersburg, Russia: Broadcaster Autonomy and the State $ October 1995, The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia: Pluralism in the Electronic Media: The Role of Technology $ September 1996, , Austria: Principles and Paths for Democratic Media $ September 1997, Vienna, Austria: Globalization and Public Broadcasting $ October 1998, Vienna, Austria: Television and Political News . $ October 1999, Vienna, Austria: Globalization and Political News $ November 2000, Vienna, Austria: Bridging Old and New Media $ October 2001, Vienna, Austria: Global Media, Expanding Choices, Fragmenting Audiences: Dilemmas for Democracy $ October 2002, Vienna, Austria: Crisis and the Press: Balancing Civil Liberty, Press Freedom and Security $ October 2003, Vienna, Austria : Media Dilemmas: Covering Ethnic and Other Conflict $ November 2004, Vienna, Austria: Media Coverage of Crime Corruption and Economic Development $ October 2005, Vienna, Austria: Media Regulation, Censorship, and the Potential for Corruption: Practices Protecting or Controlling the Public Until 1996, the Commission focused on media policy development in the former Soviet Union and a small number of countries in Eastern Europe. Then, in 1997, the DeWitt Wallace Center at Duke University became the Commission’s home and its focus expanded, becoming more regional to include East and West Europe and the United States, as well as the European part of the former Soviet Union. This has provided a far broader range of models with which to consider policies for democracy and media and enables the Commission to include countries in which public-service broadcasting is the preferred model, as well as the United States where commercial broadcasting both preceded and overshadows public broadcasting. One of the most often noted results of the Commission has been its guidebooks. The first of these, Television and Elections, is available in more than a dozen languages. There have been three editions in Russian and two in Ukrainian. The USIA makes it mandatory for some of its training programs. It has been used in the Romanian, West Bank and Bosnian elections. A prominent Lithuanian translated the book into his own language and was subsequently sent to Bosnia to advise on the elections. He found the book's Bosnian translation being used there. The book has influenced parliamentary debate and parts have been written into Russian law. Three additional guidebooks have been published, Television/Radio News and Minorities (Russian, Belarussian, and Lithuanian and forthcoming in Kazakh and Ukrainian); Television, Radio and Privatization (English and Russian); and Television Autonomy and the State (English and Russian). An update of Television and Elections and a compendium volume entitled Democracy on the Air were published in November 1999. The Commission is headquartered at the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Duke University’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy. The Center is founded on the premise that free and responsible news media are essential for a democratic society. Its research, undergraduate and graduate classes, international media policy development, and a media fellows program – the largest in the U.S. – are dedicated to encouraging open and responsible media policies and practices around the world. (www.media.duke.edu/dewitt).

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DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy

The DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy of the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University was founded on the premise that free news media are essential to the sustainability of democracy. Combining scholarly research and real-world experience, the Center supports a policy of democratic free media in the United States and around the globe.

Policy Development The Center convenes international meetings of news executives, broadcast regulators, public opinion analysts, journalists and scholars to debate the pros and cons of media policy choices facing emerging democracies. Some of this work, in collaboration with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center, has resulted in recommendations for a range of policy options addressing political advertising, election coverage, ethnic conflict, public service broadcasting, media ownership, and broadcaster autonomy. Recommendations on the role of television in elections were cited in a 1993 decree on election coverage policies in Russia and have been used by journalists and policymakers during elections in the Baltic countries, Ukraine, Bosnia and the Middle East. The Center’s publications have been translated into more than a dozen languages, are used in journalism schools in the former Soviet Union and USIA training programs in Eastern/Central Europe, most recently in Bulgaria and for the 1999 Russian parliamentary elections, and have been distributed in Africa and Haiti. In 1998, the Center co- sponsored an international conference on Media and Development in Ethiopia. The conference was co- chaired by former President Carter, DeWitt Wallace Center Director Ellen Mickiewicz, and Aspen Institute Vice President Charles Firestone. Participants included Ethiopian government officials, including the Vice Minister of Information and Culture representing the Prime Minister, as well as representatives from the private press, scholars, foundations, corporations, NGOs and international press organizations. Conference recommendations are being used as the basis for a series of policy development and training activities in Ethiopia and at Duke University.

Research and Education Undergraduate and graduate classes are designed to offer future journalists – and private and public sector leaders who will interact with them – a thorough understanding of the role of the news media in the policymaking process. Through instruction and internships, students learn about the principles and the practice of journalism, while mastering the broader background of studies in public policy, politics, economics, history and other liberal arts. They have opportunities to study with the following leading research scholars as well as prominent journalists, commentators and policy makers: Pulitzer Prize- winning columnist William Raspberry of The Washington Post , former Time Magazine associate editor and senior writer Susan Tifft, electronic publisher and former entertainment lawyer Kip Frey, and documentary photographers Alex Harris and Margaret Sartor . Our faculty and research fellows examine timely media issues, such as the impact of TV violence (James Hamilton), the role of television in democratization (Ellen Mickiewicz), the quality of democratic media in the global marketplace (Frederick Mayer), and the relationship between media ownership and press policy (Susan Tifft).

Media Fellowships More than 600 print and broadcast journalists have studied at the DeWitt Wallace Center from the United States and abroad. Fellows study public policy, politics, international affairs, environment, economics, history, business, law, and new media technologies. Graduates of this professional development program have won top journalism awards, established innovative news programs and independent broadcast stations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, launched an on-line news service in Africa, and assumed leadership positions in media enterprises all over the world.

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European Forum Alpbach

Every August since 1945, the European Forum Alpbach has taken place in the Tyrolean mountain village of Alpbach. For almost three weeks, Alpbach becomes the “Village of Thinkers” or the “Other Magic Mountain,” as it was called by the Forum’s founding father, Otto Molden.

Speakers and participants, both renowned experts and students, from all parts of the world, from science, business and politics, meet in Alpbach to discuss current questions in an interdisciplinary way. The open character of the event creates an atmosphere of tolerance for a variety of opinions and contributes to finding a consensus beyond national, ideological or disciplinary barriers.

The program of the European Forum Alpbach is comprised of three main parts:

Seminar Week 10 to 12 seminars on different scientific topics are held on six half-days. The seminars are conducted by high-level experts and encourage open discussions.

Alpbach Symposia Conferences lasting two or three days each are organized on the general themes of architecture, reform, technology, politics, economy, and health. Additionally, specialized workshops are offered in the fields of banking, film and EU networking. The “ Day” deals with the achievements of Tyrolean science.

Alpbach Summer School Courses The Summer School courses are dedicated to the issue of “European Law and European Integration.” The target group is students and young graduates.

The scientific program is accompanied by a comprehensive cultural program. The exhibitions, concerts, and lectures held in the setting of the European Forum Alpbach help young artists present their works to the public. The “fireside talks” – spontaneously organized meetings with high-level personalities – are especially notable events at Alpbach.

The participation of numerous young people is made possible by a scholarship program. The success of this initiative, financed by the philanthropic support of foundations, enterprises, and public institutions, enables the participation of more than 400 scholarship holders from different countries every year.

The Alpbach Initiative Groups and Clubs play a significant role in the success of the scholarship program. These sister institutions of the European Forum Alpbach have been founded in numerous European countries. In addition to fundraising and advertising for scholarships, they represent the idea of Alpbach all year through the organization of regular meetings and of local Alpbach events.

Meanwhile, more than 2,500 persons from over 50 countries accept the invitation to participate in the European Forum Alpbach. Everyone interested can take part in the events. The official working languages are English and German.

The administration of the European Forum Alpbach is carried out by a non-profit organization with the same name located in Vienna and chaired by Erhard Busek. The permanent office in Vienna prepares the annual Forum together with cooperating institutions and organizes special events on political and social questions during the year at different venues in Austria and other European countries .

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