Covering Immigrants Who Stayed in „Our‟ Countries

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 President, European Forum Alpbach Public Policy Studies Special Coordinator, Stability Pact Director, DeWitt Wallace Center for for South Eastern Europe Media and Democracy, Coordinator, Southeast European Duke University Cooperative Initiative Fellow, The Carter Center

Rapporteur – Craig LaMay, Northwestern University

November 16-18, 2008 ,

European Forum Alpbach Invalidenstrasse 5/7 A-1030 Vienna Phone: 43-1-718171114 Fax: 43-1-7181701 www.alpbach.org

NOTE: NEED NEW ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 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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NOTE: NEED NEW TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE TABLE OF CONTENTS

. Introduction ...... ?

. Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Participants ...... ?

. ―Covering immigrants Who Stayed in ‗Our‘ Countries‖ — Report of the Meeting of the Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Central, East and Southeast Europe ...... ?

. Policy Recommendations...... ?

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

. About the European Alpbach Forum ...... ?

3 NOTE: NEED NEW INTRO FROM DR. BUSEK INTRODUCTION

DR. ERHARD BUSEK CHAIRMAN, EUROPEAN FORUM ALPBACH SPECIAL COORDINATOR, STABILITY PACT FOR SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE COORDINATOR, SOUTHEAST 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 NOTE: NEED NEW INTRO FROM DR. MICKIEWICZ

INTRODUCTION

DR. ELLEN MICKIEWICZ JAMES R. SHEPLEY PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES DUKE UNIVERSITY FELLOW, THE 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 Roβkogler, 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

COVERING IMMIGRANTS WHO STAYED IN „OUR‟ COUNTRIES

VIENNA, AUSTRIA NOVEMBER 16-18, 2008

PARTICIPANTS & OBSERVERS

NOTE: NEED UPDATED PARTICIPANT LIST

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lu Vice President, Dogan Media Group, Turkey; Chairman, TV Broadcasters Association of Turkey Johann P. Fritz Director, International Press Institute, Austria Dušan Gajić Coordinator, South East Europe TV Exchanges (SEETV); Co-founder, Mreza Network Production Group, and Montenegro Miklόs 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, Pavol Mudry Director, SITA News Agency, Slovakia Ana Mukoska Analyst, Euro-Balkan Institute, The Republic of Macedonia Daina Ostrovska Director of Programs, TV3, Latvia Petăr Pountchev President of Radio FM+ Group, National Network; Member of the Board

6 of Private Radio Association of Alina Radu Director, Ziarul de Garda, Tony Reid Assistant Financial Editor, The Washington Post, USA Dominique Roch Chief Correspondent, Jerusalem Bureau, Radio 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 Roβkogler European Forum Alpbach, Austria Mariele Schulze-Berndt Media Spokesperson, European Forum Alpbach, Vienna Peter Surovic European Association of Danube Journalists, Austria

7 Covering Immigrants Who Stayed in „Our‟ Countries

Introduction cover them – in the nearly two decades since the collapse of communism, ethnic conflict has exploded One of the most visible and therefore politicized into violence in the Balkans and the Caucasus. dimensions of the current era of globalization is the Several times during the 2008 meeting, participants scale and speed of human movement. International told of a frightening increase in hate speech in their migration is throughout the developed world a home countries. The new online forms of ―citizen polarizing social and economic issue, often infused journalism,‖ said Taras Shevchenko, director of with racism and xenophobia, and shaped by political Ukraine‘s Media Law Institute, may enjoy a ideas about repression and human rights. reputation for promoting public speech, but ―there is In post-war Western Europe immigration was a lot of violence in these forums. Should we do often encouraged by governments attempting to something about it? Can there be some kind of alleviate labor shortages. More recently, in Central intervention. Should there be a policy against hate and Eastern Europe, immigration has been aided by speech? There are dangers here that any of us could open borders and developing markets, but also by find ourselves in.‖ ethnic conflict up to and including war. Today, ―We all live in a dangerous neighborhood,‖ said everywhere in Europe, the term ―immigrant‖ now Commission co-Chair Erhard Busek in the includes many subcategories, including not only conference‘s opening session. ―And we are all those whom the United Nations first defined to be neighbors now, not by borders necessarily, but by the ―refugees‖ in 1951, but also resident and illegal mobility of immigrant populations.‖ Not to be aliens, and internally displaced persons. Refugees – forgotten in that neighborhood is Russia, said co- those who have fled their home countries for fear of Chair Ellen Mickiewicz. Under Putin, Russia has persecution – rarely come directly from their home firmly if clumsily re-asserted influence everywhere it countries, but instead through one or more other can, most recently and forcefully in Georgia. Russia countries where they have been resettled. has seen NATO encroachment and independence The result is a continent in which social movements like the one in Kosovo as direct threats to questions long simmering have taken on new its external and internal security. ―It did not escape urgency. Often immigrants live in urban settings in the Tatars that Western recognition has psychological which social alienation and tension exist as the implications for large and restive minority ethnic prevailing form of collective expression. Often groups,‖ Mickiewicz said. Under former President immigrants are poor, and unemployment among Boris Yeltsin, peace was maintained by ―buying off‖ immigrants, particularly the young, is far above the most problematic regions – letting them keep national averages. Journalists often will cover control over their local resources and wealth. Today, immigrant communities as zones of conflict: between Mickiewicz said, Russia is a deeply segregated local institutions and national ones; between society, with existing almost as a ―state generations and cultures; between civil society within a state‖ in which chronic poverty, health and organizations and the police. Ethnic communities social problems that afflict the rest of the country are that sometimes see themselves united only in mostly invisible. resistance to others are at once isolated from and For news organizations who want responsibly to juxtaposed with the larger societies in which they cover the disparities between ―natives‖ and exist. Finally, religious identity has re-emerged a ―immigrants‖ in a world where populations are so major barrier to integration for some immigrant mobile, how best to do that? Who speaks for an groups, particularly Muslims. The result for many immigrant group? Should reporters emphasize groups is a state of near-permanent immigrant status cultural differences, or social and economic needs in which non-integration is the major defining groups have in common? When if ever is it characteristic. appropriate to use ethnic or immigrant identity as part These circumstances were the subject of the of a story? When there is conflict between groups, 2008 meeting of the Commission on Radio and how should journalists cover it without exacerbating Television Policy: Central, East and Southeast it? These were among the issues that focused Europe, November 16-18, in Vienna. For the discussion at the 2008 Commission meeting. journalists in regions represented by the Commission, the subject of immigrants raises some particularly difficult questions about whom to cover and how to

8 Refugees, émigrés, displaced This is a tremendous resource challenge, because we have to look at thousands of comments.‖ persons, resident aliens and On an average day, Spruill said, 20 percent of the immigrants: How do media Times online traffic comes from outside the United States, and it was certainly so during the U.S. understand and cover these presidential election, which as many Commission categories? participants noted was an event followed closely in Discussion of media coverage of immigrants their own countries, and which for many was cause began with an economic question: How do these for some national soul-searching. While Barack large immigrant audiences affect traditional media Obama – a man with a Kenyan father and an programming, and what can be done to serve these American mother -- was hailed in Germany, said audiences? Alexander Wrabetz, the Director General broadcast news executive Petra Lidschreiber, few of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF, host Germans seriously think than someone with an for the Commission meeting), noted that ORF has for immigrant background could become Chancellor. some time seen its percentage of the television and Indeed, she said, German politicians and the news radio audiences decline, especially among younger media actively avoid the idea that Germany is an and new immigrants from Turkey, Serbia and immigrant country, but still imagine their immigrants Bosnia-Herzegovina. Whenever possible, these – from Turkey, , and elsewhere – as audiences will watch satellite programming from migrants who will eventually return to their home their home countries and in their own language. countries, despite having now been in Germany Because of its mission as a national public legally for several generations. broadcaster, ORF must play a more aggressive and One result, Lidschreiber said, is an ―absurd‖ positive role in integrating these groups into Austrian nomenclature in which even immigrants who have society, Wrabetz said. become German citizens are not accepted as German. New York Times online editor Fiona Spruill ―You might read in a news story, for example, a talked about her company‘s well-known efforts to description of someone as a ‗Lebanese with a substantially re-invent itself as an electronic product German passport.‘ The underlying implication is that by integrating its print and online operations. During you are German by blood, not by law or territory.‖ In the U.S. presidential election season, she said, the crime stories especially, Lidschreiber said, reporters Times found itself competing with several new and routinely identify perpetrators and victims alike by non-traditional news sources, from the Huffington their geographic origin, a practice that press councils Post to YouTube. The Times responded with live have long condemned but which continues anyway. video of the televised debates and election night Making matters more difficult, hundreds of legal speeches, interactive features for their readers, and restrictions and alien designations apply to regularly updated maps of electoral results. To immigrants, Lidschreiber said, many of them so at compete, Spruill said, the Times recognizes that ―we odds with reality that immigration requires have to get our brand and its reporting in front of specialized reporters to cover adequately – and those who want to consume news wherever they are, virtually no news organizations have made this with the same quality on all platforms.‖ commitment. Immigration reporting is a major part of the Bosnian journalist Senad Kamenica agreed that Times‘ news commitment, Spruill said. The paper ―we journalists are part of the problem. Are we has reporters who write about the subject on its making any effort to explain the context that brings international, national and metro desks, as well as refugees into the news in the first place? Are we investigative and religion reporters. That reporting, making any effort to explain their desperation, to see like everything else the Times does, is now their living conditions, their efforts to send their kids supplemented by information and commentary to school. Can they work? Are they allowed to? In submitted by its audience through reader forums, most countries immigrants are accommodated, but blogs, reverse-reporting, crowd-sourcing, and other not allowed to work regardless of status. Making a new techniques. The downside of these efforts, as small effort to explain the social context of Taras Shevchenko had noted the night before, is well immigration would make a difference to people known to communications lawyers: the difficulty of where they live, but there is a lot of xenophobia, and checking the veracity and reliability of information, with the economic crisis it will be even a bigger particularly when much of it comes from sources problem.‖ who are all but anonymous. Spruill noted, for One reason for media indifference is that very example, that the subject of immigration ―brings out often media organizations do not view immigrants as the worst in readers‖ and that most submitted economically attractive audiences. In Germany, said comments are ―unpublishable. We moderate all Lidschreiber, rating agencies do not include in their comments on our web site, unlike most other papers. audience measurements people of non-German

9 descent, and certainly not immigrants from non- obligation; for all it is an ethical issue. It is one thing European Union countries. ―The assumption is that not to publish hate speech posted by readers and they‘re not listening or watching, but that‘s not true. viewers; it is another to ignore it as a social issue and Turkish immigrants use German public television for a news story. ―You can‘t pretend the problem news; they use home satellites for entertainment doesn‘t exist by not covering it,‖ said British programming in Turkish.‖ In broadcast systems that broadcast executive Colin Shaw. Indeed, not are dominated by for-profit media – namely the covering it responsibly, he said, yields the United States – broadcasters go out of their way to conversation to less responsible media who, for identify viewers, whoever and wherever they are. whatever reason, will choose to fan the flames of ―Ratings in the United States include immigrants intolerance. because those numbers determine advertising rates,‖ The subject of hate speech recurred throughout said Ellen Mickiewicz. ―Audience researchers will the 2008 Commission meeting, as discussed below. go to bars, for example, trying to find Hispanic- But from this part of the Commission‘s discussions Americans.‖ came the following recommendations: By contrast, said some Commission participants, television regulation in their home countries makes 1. Coverage of immigrant groups should not specific programming accommodations for concentrate only on differences, but also report on immigrants. Sometimes programming is about values and socioeconomic needs that groups share immigrant groups; sometimes it is for them or with the larger society in which they live. produced by them. In Slovenia, said Boris Bergant, regulation makes special provision for large 2. Journalists covering conflict should confine their immigrant groups. ―So we have for 3,000 Italians a news reports to known facts and observed events. full-service broadcaster, 24-hours a day in radio and Any speculation about motives should be clearly television. For 8,000 Hungarians, we have 24 hours distinguished and its grounding explained. of radio programming and one 30-minute block of television each day. Now, for 10,000 Roma, we have one hour a day in radio, and 30 minutes twice a Covering Immigrants, Their Political month on television.‖ Croatian radio journalist Zrinka Vrabec-Mojzes Organization and Impact on Public added the observation that for Europeans Policy immigration is a fundamentally different discussion In the absence of contextualized coverage of than it is for Americans. ―You don‘t have immigrants, what can emerge instead is coverage of immigrants,‖ she asserted. ―People come to America immigrants that casts them as the culprits for various to become Americans. The European problem is social ills, especially petty and . But whether we want to help immigrants assimilate, and the real story, said Romanian investigative reporter often we do not. A second problem is that many of Paul Radu, is usually ―that natives run the show. I the newer immigrants do not want to assimilate. have encountered many times in Western Europe Rather they hate the society in which they live.‖ stories about or Romanian mafia, in Commission co-Chair Erhard Busek added that which an entire ethnic group is criminalized by the conflicts exist within immigrant groups between actions of a few. In , for example, we blame those who wish to adapt to their new homes and the Roma for organized crime. But when we those who see such adaptation as a betrayal of their investigated, looked at the profits from trafficking identity. Similar tensions exist within ethnic groups rings, ATM fraud, and other things, we were able to based on other factors, real and imagined. For pinpoint the guys who were really involved in example, said Serbian journalist Radomir Lucina, running these operations, and they were Romanian ―Serbs from Bosnia-Herzegovina or Kosovo are not criminal networks who enlist and use immigrants.‖ always treated well by other Serbs. There exists a If journalists only look superficially at stories of tribal mind about these things.‖ immigrant crime, Radu said, it‘s partly because For many of the Commission participants, the police themselves rarely make a serious effort to practical problem associated with these issues is hate investigate the issue, and so are often either speech, which is not only resurgent but, through unwittingly or wittingly complicit in covering up its online media, has a new outlet available to just about causes. One way to break through such official anyone. What are journalists supposed to do about barriers, Radu said, is to cooperate whenever possible this? Do they report on it or ignore it? Certainly with with the media outlets that serve immigrant respect to the views expressed on the media they communities. ―They know more than the authorities control, there was unanimous consent that news do,‖ he said. ‖And look transnationally. Cooperate organizations should monitor and eliminate hate with media outlets in countries of the immigrants‘ speech. For many news organizations this is a legal origin.‖

10 In Russia, said communications professor news coverage are most acute with respect to non- Andrei Richter, immigrants from Ukraine and European immigrants and to Muslim immigrants, Eurasia are portrayed as the source of a host of social wherever they are from. Non-European immigrants problems. ―Russians believe immigrants take their are almost universally viewed with suspicion and jobs and are criminals,‖ he said. ―Media coverage hostility, said Radomir Lucina. ―In there encourages the perception that ‗non-Russians‘ are are thousands of Chinese, but nobody knows how different, that they drink too much or are lazy and many. There are urban legends about them and untrustworthy.‖ As a result, opinion polls show that everybody hates them. They are not covered at all, Russians, and especially Muscovites, believe that not even at the margin, and there is no sign from immigration should be curtailed or forbidden, that them of an attempt to assimilate. Maybe Serbia is a ―Russia should be for Russians.‖ stop on the way to Western Europe, as Prague is for ―Xenophobic crimes in Russian have increased the Vietnamese.‖ 200 percent‖ in the last four years, Richter said. Religion is an even more intractable problem. ―What were once hooligan crimes are now Where many cultural and economic differences pose characterized as ethnic-based crimes,‖ and no one has no barrier to integration, said German media benefitted more from that characterization than the executive Dietrich Schwarzkopf, religion is a non- government, which has used anti-extremism laws ―as negotiable feature of individual and cultural a pretext to give wider scope to the ‗crime‘ of identification. political extremism. What is extremism? The Several Commission participants agreed with Russian government defines it as any unorthodox this comment, and expressed frustration with it. On political thought. Media outlets can be prosecuted the one hand, all understood that religious differences under this law, and closed by the courts. The can be exaggerated into socially lethal ones. Before punishments can be very severe. the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, said Senad ―So ethnic hatred is a political crime, and plays Kamenica, ―Vukovar had 99 percent mixed into the hands of government. The most famous case marriages, Mostar had 98 percent, and was was an opposition web site in Ingushetia that was not far behind. But these were the cities that suffered closed down. The editor fled to Germany and the most during the war. They were deliberately owner was shot after the site was closed down for destroyed by the nationalistic politics of all sides.‖ hate speech against Ossetians There was ugly hate On the other hand, attempts to assimilate speech in the paper, indeed, but there are dozens of immigrant groups through the formal mechanism of such sites. The paper was singled out because of its the political process can be unsatisfactory, even criticism of President Putin.‖ counterproductive. In several Commission countries The other side of all this is that immigrants and – Croatia and Slovenia, to name two – minority ethnic minorities sometimes do act in their narrow group representation in government is required by self-interest, and sometimes in ways that are deeply law, what one Commission participant characterized disruptive. Throughout the Balkans, said Kosovar as ―positive discrimination.‖ But the result can be a journalist Agron Bajrami, ―emigrants engage in system where a handful of minority representatives political activities by channeling funds and even arms compete for and see themselves responsible to only a to their mother countries, and this activity is largely few thousand voters, not the country as a whole. unreported. The Croatian war was paid for by Pavol Mudry, director of the SITA News Agency in Croatians in the United States. During the Kosovo Slovakia, reminded everyone that this political habit war every Kosovo Albanian in Western Europe had is a holdover from the days of the Austro-Hungarian to pay a tax to support the resistance. There was no Empire. ―Minorities learned to be very disciplined,‖ way to punish those who didn‘t pay, but your name Mudry said. ―They vote for their representative, then would appear in the paper saying you were not a real will often misuse their power.‖ Erhard Busek patriot.‖ reminded the audience that many Central Europeans For journalists who wish to cover these different still think of themselves as part of some past political aspects of immigration, a practical problem often reality. He and Mudry noted that many people, for arises in trying to identify a responsible, example, still refer to Slovakia as ―Upper .‖ representative spokesperson. One can always talk to From this session of the Commission‘s the leaders of advocacy groups, said Petra discussion came these recommendations: Lidschreiber, ―but you don‘t always know who those groups actually represent. And without broader 3. Journalists should be skeptical of stereotypes and participation by immigrants, choosing to focus on assumptions about the cultural, religious and advocacy groups can lead you to patronize the people political values of immigrant groups. you‘re trying to cover, with the result that they‘re not taken seriously.‖ In much of Europe, these many problems of

11 4. Journalists should investigate reported crimes of their countries of residence often have been made “hooliganism,” battery or , to determine if worse by concerns, real and manufactured, about they involve ethnic or nationalist persecution. terrorism and domestic security. And relations will be made worse by the threat of a global depression. 5. Laws forbidding ethnic extremism should contain In Moldova, said journalist Alina Radu, the precise definitions for purposes of consistency and government ―decided that those who operate kabob justice. shops are terrorists, and so they all closed one day. Our new ambassador from the United States is of 6. Journalists are often unaware of sources from Pakistani origin. It‘s a big problem for him just to immigrant communities with whom to speak. As walk down the street. If you are Asian or African the best they can, they should identify a number of such police will stop you in the street and ask for your responsible representatives and not limit themselves passport.‖ to authorized sources. Doing so will broaden the Moldova‘s domestic situation is interesting discussion and improve news coverage. because as one of the poorest countries in Europe it has approximately one-fourth of its population living abroad, many illegally, doing menial jobs and Covering Culture and Power: sending remittances home. And in Moldova itself, business and politics are controlled mostly by Immigrant Communities and Their Russian immigrants relocated there when the country Impact on Their Residential was part of the . One of the more stark descriptions of resurgent Societies xenophobia came from Croatia‘s Zrinka Vrabec- In its third session the Commission continued its Mojzes. ―During the years when we were all part of discussion about the resurgence of hate speech Yugoslavia,‖ she said, we had lots of students from directed at and sometimes coming from immigrants. non-aligned countries coming to study. It was quite Colin Shaw opened the session by describing the normal to see a mix of culture and races in shops and unique situation of Muslim immigrants in the United clubs. Today we do not accept asylum seekers from Kingdom, which he described as a ―mongrel country‖ any country, even though they usually want to go on created and transformed first by conquest – Roman to a third country. Today it is impossible to see a legions, German and Scandinavian tribes, the colored person in the street, except for visiting Normans – and then by the ―peaceful invasions‖ of football players. And even they are subject to racist French Huguenots, East European Jews, Caribbean hooliganism. Our football clubs have to pay high islanders, and Indians. All of these groups managed, penalties because of racial harassment.‖ some with more difficulty than others, to assimilate, If there was an obvious solution to the problem if incompletely. More than 20 different mother of hate speech, no one could identify it. Several tongues are spoken among British school children, Commission members said, with disappointment, that Shaw said, making teaching difficult, and there exists even large foreign investment in media throughout ―a degree of hostility between immigrant the Commission region has done nothing to limit the communities.‖ growth of hate speech, and some suggested that it has The most recent groups of immigrants – made matters worse. Virtually all agreed that Muslims from East Africa and the Indian immigration needed more time and more subcontinent – have proved an especially difficult sophisticated coverage than it now gets, though all case. ―They are divided among themselves between also agreed that doing such coverage involved extremists and those willing to be assimilated. Many significant new expense. Still another expense have refused integration,‖ said Shaw. ―Many Muslim recommended by several Commission participants women, who remain at home, have not learned the was that one or more staff members monitor and language and are discouraged from doing so.‖ remove hate speech from comments submitted to a Complicating matters, Shaw said, is that there is media organization‘s Web site by readers and ―no structure for democratic dialogue with these viewers. Colin Shaw observed that for journalists the groups. People have tried to make concessions, but problem is best addressed at the local level, where many Muslims are irreconcilable to England.‖ And reporters have an incentive to know and report more many English are irreconcilable to Muslims. ―The fully and fairly about immigrant groups. Among Archbishop of Canterbury made suggestions that other things, he said, doing so is good business. some Sharia law could be acceptable and he was Convincing owners and publishers of that proposition savaged by the right wing press. He was merely is another matter. suggesting the same degree of liberty as Jews, who From this part of its deliberations the have courts to administer Jewish Law.‖ Commission made these recommendations: An undeniable subtext of the 2008 Commission meeting was that relations between immigrants and

12 are not symbols; they‘re weapons. What I regret is 7. Online publishers should monitor and remove that there has been zero public discussion in the hate speech that is posted to their Web sites by Western countries of the NATO requirement that if readers and viewers, although this may require an one country is attacked or invaded all the others must increase in staffing. respond. None. Would you support NATO commitments with the human sacrifice of your 8. Media organizations should hire reporters and family? That‘s the question, and it has not been editors to reflect the diversity of the communities treated at all in the press.‖ and groups they cover. Zrinka Vrabec-Mojzes agreed with Mickiewicz but offered an alternative view of the NATO issue: 9. Media organizations should report about and for ―NATO for us is important as a political institution. local communities, whatever their ethnic or It is a symbol of Western values, free of Russian immigrant composition. Market research shows influence. For all the countries behind the velvet such reporting can also be good business. curtain, NATO means belonging to the West, where they want to see themselves. NATO membership includes political requirements such as rule of law, Tensions in the Neighborhood and it puts the security sector under democratic Russian media scholar Andre Richter observed at control. It also requires the maintenance of a one point during the Commission discussions that if professional army, so the government cannot just immigrants have become the ―enemy within,‖ for draft my kids and send them to war. In NATO Russians NATO has become the ―enemy without.‖ decisions are made by consensus, so even small The subject of NATO, its expansion and the nature of countries like mine have the same weight as larger its commitment to new and proposed members, was and more powerful countries. To us NATO played a put into sharp relief on August 8, 2008, when Russian positive role in stopping the war. The European military forces entered South Ossetia in response to Union never acted, never did anything. Srebrenica Georgian military incursions into the secessionist had to happen before Clinton decided NATO had to province the day before. intervene, for the first time in its history. So NATO In the Western press, the South Ossetian conflict brought us peace.‖ was portrayed almost exclusively as aggression by a newly belligerent Russia against a Western ally. Very few news organizations understood or reported either The Future of “Balkanization” on the reckless character of the Georgian actions or ―Balkanization‖ is a word with a decidedly the Russian view of the conflict, which saw it at least negative meaning. In Germany, as in much of in part as a proxy battle with the United States and its Western Europe, said Bulgarian doctoral student plans for further NATO expansion, possibly to Alina Dobreva, the Balkans always has a negative include both Georgia and the Ukraine.1 connotation.‖ Western dictionaries define Commission co-Chair Ellen Mickiewicz, a ―balkanize‖ as the act of breaking up larger political renowned observer of Russian politics and Russia- units into smaller, hostile ones. If the etymology of United States relations, noted that the question of the word had once been lost to memory, it was NATO expansion has never been treated seriously restored by the mostly violent dissolution of anywhere in the Western press. ―No one has asked Yugoslavia in the 1990s. From the former the most ludicrously common sense question: If Yugoslavia came five countries: Serbia, Croatia, NATO is to protect its member countries against Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and – some external threat, what is that threat? If NATO is depending on whom one asks – the world‘s newest not directed against Russia, then against whom? The independent state, Kosovo. reasons given for NATO expansion have been For Commission participants who are residents notably weak and unconvincing. of these countries, Balkanization is a burden, and ―If the argument is deterrence, deterrence rests many thought an unfair one. Said Agron Bajrami, ―It on parity, and there is none. The United States could means conflict, wars, hatred, xenophobia, regression, engage in a first-strike anytime and there would be repression. But in terms of the future, we hope it nothing left for the Russians to make a second strike. means peaceful coexistence, multi-ethnicity, and So no one is deterred in the present system, and the democracy. What do we need to do this? If history is balance of power is profoundly unequal.‖ To the to be used to avoid the mistakes of the past, the main argument that NATO expansion is merely symbolic, lesson is that we can not do it alone, nor can Europe Mickiewicz responded that ―nuclear tipped missiles do it alone. We can only get there with the help of a joint plan of action, and this plan has to be based on

1 values. For an unusually thoughtful journalistic discussion of the conflict, see George Freeman, ―Georgia and the Balance of Power,‖ New York Review of Books, Sept. 25, 2008; and Robert English, ―Georgia: The Ignored History,‖ New York Review of Books, Nov. 6, 2008. 13 ―In Kosovo, we are not very optimistic when we Vienna, the European Commission said it would look at the way European politicians are using the pursue a €200 billion spending plan that it hoped region‘s need for economic progress to reach their would save millions of European jobs. A month own political goals. We ended up with nationalism in after, the economies of the 15 euro countries had the past not only because people in the region were shrunk for a third consecutive quarter, meaning the prone to it, but because this kind of mindset has been bloc had officially entered recession. given concessions by the West. There has been a lack The financial crisis has affected several countries of determination by the West to insist that these represented by the Commission, most of which were values be expressed in a certain kind of action and fundamentally healthy only a year ago. But almost all behavior.‖ have borrowed heavily from capital markets to Radomir Lucina urged that Balkanization ―take improve their infrastructure, and their political and on a positive meaning,‖ and agreed with others on his economic institutions. Those countries that have panel that the word‘s negative connotation ―is the joined the EU have seen as a result a jump in foreign result of external, foreign factors.‖ Those same investment, property values, and housing markets. outside forces, he said, can be used to reverse that But as the European economies slow and credit has perception. ―I am a skeptic by nature,‖ said Lucina, tightened up, stock markets in countries like Poland, ―but I am certain it can be done, that this region can Romania and Ukraine have lost half or more of their flourish again, that our children are going to live in a value. Several countries – Bulgaria and Hungary, to better Balkans. What ―Balkanization‖ means name two – now have current account deficits. The depends most of all on us, but also on outside factors. problem for the entire region is the same: How to It‘s obvious that things can be different, and that the finance the enormous debt they incurred as the price media can contribute to improvement. We don‘t of escaping their communist past and joining the know exactly how, but we are trying our best.‖ global economy. Noting one significant political change in his Some Commission countries are feeling the pain home country of Serbia, Lucina said that the radical of the global recession more sharply than others. right part has split, with the new branch having Russia, for example, has in the last few months ―given up the idea of a greater Serbia. This is experienced declines in export earnings from energy something of a revolution.‖ and metals; corporate debt defaults, bank failures, a Commission co-Chair Erhard Busek agreed: ―I slumping real estate market, and capital flight; and am fed up with the recurring phrase ―failed state,‖ pressure to devalue its currency. which is often used in connection with the Balkans. It As this report notes at its beginning, immigration was said about Slovenia, about Slovakia, when they often becomes a flashpoint for economic grievances became independent, that they would be failed states. because, unlike other dimensions of globalization, It was said about Macedonia. But now all those such as capital flight or currency devaluation, the countries are doing well. I have been involved in the immigrant child walking to school or the immigrant Balkans since 1996. The improvements I have seen in laborer looking for work is easy to see, and easy to the region in this time are outstanding. This is a huge blame. Whatever their legal status, immigrants can reason to hope that should be passed on to the become the scapegoats for, and sometimes victims of, citizens of the region.‖ larger social and economic crises. In identifying the issue of immigration issue for discussion in its 2008 meeting, the Commission wisely presented for Conclusion consideration a social issue and a news story that will Several times during the 2008 Commission occupy serious news organizations for many years to meeting, participants worried aloud that the global come. financial crisis that began late last summer could continue to worsen and – with the consequent loss of savings, companies, jobs, social services and other aspects of economic security -- that immigration could become an even more volatile political and social issue. If that is the worry, the prognosis is worrisome. The week after the Commission met in

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Recommendations Commission on Radio and Television Policy: Central, East and Southeast Europe November 16-18, 2008

1. Coverage of immigrant groups 6. Journalists are often unaware of should not concentrate only on sources from immigrant differences, but also report on communities with whom to speak. values and socioeconomic needs As best they can, they should that groups share with the larger identify a number of such society in which they live. responsible representatives and not limit themselves to authorized 2. Journalists covering conflict sources. Doing so will broaden the should confine their news reports to discussion and improve news known facts and observed events. coverage. Any speculation about motives should be clearly distinguished and 7. Online publishers should monitor its grounding explained. and remove hate speech that is posted to their Web sites by readers 3. Journalists should be skeptical of and viewers, although this may stereotypes and assumptions about require an increase in staffing. the cultural, religious and political values of immigrant groups. 8. Media organizations should hire reporters and editors to reflect the 4. Journalists should investigate diversity of the communities and reported crimes of “hooliganism,” groups they cover. battery or assault, to determine if they involve ethnic or nationalist 9. Media organizations should persecution. report about and for local communities, whatever their ethnic 5. Laws forbidding ethnic or immigrant composition. Market extremism should contain precise research shows such reporting can definitions for purposes of also be good business. consistency and justice.

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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 Soviet Union 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 $ October 2006, Vienna, Austria, The News Abroad: Foreign Conflicts, Foreign Publics, & Foreign Coverage $ October 2007, Vienna, Austria, Time to Change or Stand Fast? 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

16 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.

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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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