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 Vienna, Austria 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. 2 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 European Union 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 Russia 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. 5 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 Colakolu 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, Serbia 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 Lithuania 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 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 Bulgaria 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 Ukraine Savik Shuster Writer and Host, ―Freedom of Speech,‖ ICTV, Ukraine Milan Šmid Professor, Department of Journalism, Charles University, Czech Republic Renaud van der Elst