Asia-Pacific Regional Press Freedom Seminar

1 and 2 October 2001

In early October, the Press Council hosted a seminar on Press Freedom and Responsibility in the Asia-Pacific Region. The seminar was timed to take advantage of events connected with the planned Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) planned for Brisbane. The Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) was to host a symposium for editors from the Pacific and south-east Asia in the days leading up to CHOGM.

With the assistance of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid), the Council was bringing ten delegates to Sydney for its own seminar and sending some of these along to the Brisbane events after. The Council had also invited a number of the delegates for the CPU symposium to attend its seminar on the way through. Prior to the events of 11 September and to the collapse of Ansett Airlines, there had been 24 delegates coming to the Council's seminar.

However, at the penultimate minute (the Friday three days before the seminar was due to commence), CHOGM was cancelled and the CPU called off its symposium. Nonetheless, the seminar went ahead with only four delegates being unable to arrive. In all, seven Pacific nations (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga), East Timor, Indonesia and Mauritius were directly represented. In addition there were delegates from the UK Press Complaints Commission (PCC), the CPU, AusAid, the Centre for Democratic Institutions at the ANU, the Asian Media Council of Australia and the Australian Press Council. The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu were the two nations not represented as a result of the cancellation of CHOGM.

In addition to the AusAid funded delegates, News Limited brought out editors from their newspapers in PNG and Fiji to attend the seminar. News also provided the venue: the News Limited theatrette in its Sydney headquarters.

New Zealand, Fiji and Indonesia were represented by the Chairs of their Press Councils and it was the first opportunity for the four self-regulatory bodies operating in the region to get together for a discussion (the Indonesian Council was established after the June 1999 International Media Conference hosted by the Australian Press Council). They were able to plan how best to co-ordinate their activities and to arrange for further discussions among the Chairs on future arrangements.

Country reports

The first morning was taken up with reports from the various delegates on the state of the press in his or her country. Delegates were asked to give a very brief sketch of the press in their country (eg number of newspaper titles; language coverage; commercially- or government-sponsored; readership numbers etc). In addition they were asked to comment on what factors support or constrain press freedom in their country and what mechanisms, if any, there were in the country for dealing with complaints about newspapers.

Virigio Guterres, President of the Timor Lorosa'e Journalists' Association, noted that journalism has been an integral part in the struggle for East Timorese independence since before Indonesia invaded the country in 1975. Official and unofficial print media proliferated both inside and outside East Timor's borders until 1999 and the vote for independence.

The rebirth of the media since the 1999 devastation has been a mammoth logistical task as all means of production were destroyed. But finding computers, desks, office space, electricity and a printing press were obstacles that were able to be overcome. Two years after the August 30 ballot Timor Lorosa'e has a vibrant print media with 19 publications at the moment, two daily newspapers, three weeklies, one fortnightly magazine, six community weekly papers and seven fortnightly community publications. UNTAET also produces in four languages a biweekly paper called Tais Timor. In addition, there are seven community radio stations and the UN broadcasters, Radio UNTAET and TVTL, which may become the basis for a national public broadcaster when the United Nations mandate ends.

Reporters themselves must also undergo change and the transition from activism to journalism is not always an easy one. While both share common goals and ideals like free speech and freedom of information, journalists must be independent observers of the process rather than participants and that is a change that requires personal effort, an awareness of the role of the media in a democracy and an ability to take a step back and see the several sides of every story.

Education and training, one of the top priorities of the Timor Lorosa'e Journalists Association, and solidarity among journalists in the Asia Pacific region will be key to the future health of the institution of journalism in East Timor.

The complete text of Virgilio's address and the country reports of the other delegates are posted on this website.

Self-regulatory mechanisms

Representatives of the Press Councils present spoke in two sessions on the first afternoon on the use of press councils as a means of press self-regulation.

Professor Ken McKinnon, Chairman of the Australian Press Council, spoke about the philosophy of press self-regulation. He noted that the different countries present had different ways of trying to control the press but "even in long established democracies press freedom cannot be taken for granted".

He asked: "Given that in all countries there are always strong regulatory tendencies what is the case for self-regulation?" He argued that the place to begin is with the right of the people in a democratic society to be informed, particularly on the information necessary to enable them to act as responsible, informed citizens. But, he noted, "In our societies there is more consciousness of the need to balance freedoms with obligations ...

"It cannot be claimed that newspapers are always without blemish or that there are no public interest considerations intersecting with the public's right to know. How are the mistakes or errors of judgement of newspapers to be corrected? ... In Australia, a self-regulatory body with balanced membership, representative not only of press proprietors and journalists but also of the public was seen to be the answer. ... Establishment of an apparently independent body is not in itself sufficient to meet the need. Newspaper organisations must have sufficient commitment to high standards to cause them to come together to devise a set of principles that will govern the work of the self-regulatory body."

The other commitment required, according to Professor McKinnon, is for newspaper publishers to undertake the on-going financial support of the work of the self-regulatory body.

He saw the rationale of the press council in the need for the self-regulatory body to exist as an alternative to recourse to law. "A self-regulatory body that can take up complaints quickly," he said. "A body that brings to bear both the experiences of those actively gathering and presenting the news and the views of community members is more likely to ensure that their complaints are resolved. ... It must be an alternative not supplementary to the law. ... An advantage of self-regulation is that it provides a cheap process, accessible to everyone, rich or poor."

Professor McKinnon noted the limits on the initiative entrusted to a self-regulatory body. The Australian Press Council does not itself initiate complaints against newspapers but awaits complaints from members of the public. It cannot be both prosecutor and judge.

For the press, Professor McKinnon saw two major benefits for the continuing existence of a self-regulatory body charged with scrutiny of the press. "On the one hand it is a protection. ... Newspapers are always scrutinising those who exercise power in our community. They act for the public in questioning, checking, explaining and analysing what is going on in every aspect of community life. ... A self-regulatory body protects them for more heavy-handed government or court intervention. It channels grievances into more positive channels by finding forms of redress that ensure the public has access to the full story and that complaints are resolved. It publishes exemplary adjudications often used by newspapers in the training of their staff.

"On the other hand a press council is a benign but powerful force for better press standards."

Professor McKinnon had no doubt that the existence of a self-regulatory body for the press does help to insulate it from knee jerk responses and legislative action to hobble the press and prevent it from carrying out its mission to inform the public.

Subsequent speakers at these sessions on press councils included Indonesian PC Chair Atmakusumah Astraatmadja (Establishing a press council), New Zealand's Sir John Jeffries (Establishing code of ethics), Daryl Tarte from the Fiji News Council (Self-regulation in an unstable political situation), Jack R Herman (Australian PC Executive Secretary) on Administering the system of self-regulation and a paper on Privacy: balancing individual rights and freedom of expression from the PCC's David Chipp. The text of the other speeches can be found on this website.

Case Studies

On the second morning the seminar looked at some case studies from different press councils. The case studies simulation has been used successfully by the Australian Press Council with a number of university and industry groups to discuss the adjudication process and the principles that need to be considered in arriving at adjudications. Case studies are based on actually complaints considered by the Council.

In this case, each of the Fiji, New Zealand and Australian Councils introduced a case study from their own experience.

The Fiji case involved a claim by a major political party of inadequate coverage of its policies and pronouncements in a particular newspaper, implying bias in the newspaper's coverage. The New Zealand case related to the identification of a minor accused of car stealing. The report on the incident included a picture of the girl with a black band across her face. She was nonetheless clearly recognisable. The Australian case was a story in a regional daily newspaper of the whereabouts, on holidays, of the Prime Minister and an invitation from the newspaper for its readers to visit the PM. The story included a map and an editorial critical of the PM's failure to visit the regional centre after the recent closure of its largest employer.

The delegates discussed the cases, noting that different countries would treat each differently according to the traditions of their press. It was highly unlikely, for example, that the leader of a Pacific nation would have his privacy invaded in the same way as the Australian PM's was. Among other matters noted is that the NZ Press Council's code of ethics has a particular reference to the need to be careful when dealing with minors.

Seminar outcomes

The final session was devoted to discussing the seminar's outcomes and to plan for future action. There was a general agreement that, at this stage, no transnational organisation should be formed. It was noted that there was already the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) with which any informal group might co-operate. And it was noted that the established Press Councils were to correspond more formally in the future. Several delegates said that the press council model would not be useful in their case because of the small size of their population and of their media.

The primary thing emerging is the establishment of an e-group, a moderated mailing list, for councils and interested media people in the region. The way such groups operate is that anyone sends a message to the moderator and that message, if from a member, is distributed to the group, for discussion and feedback. The Australian Press Council will host such an e-group and interested people are invited to join in.

It was also agreed that future meetings among the parties was advisable, either under the auspices of the CPU or through some more informal mechanism. It was thought that the next meeting might well be held in the Pacific, perhaps in Fiji and that AusAid could be asked to again contribute to such a seminar. The CPU delegate suggested that they would make such a proposal for a symposium in the first half of 2002.

Thanks

The Press Council thanks AusAid and News Limited for their generous support of the seminar. It also acknowledges the help of News, the Journalism School of the University of Technology Sydney and John Fairfax Publishing for hosting various of our delegates in the days after the seminar. This ability to get the overseas guests to see newspapers and meet with teachers was very helpful. The Council also facilitated Virgilio Guterres (East Timor) meeting with the MEAA and the Foreign Correspondents' Association.

Jack R Herman

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