Transnational Complaints:

Istanbul Seminar Starts the Process

In March 1996, the Press Council of Turkey hosted a seminar which established some parameters for the WAPC's investigation of the possibility of handling complaints about the transnational media. David Flint was there.

A conference, organised by Oktay Eksi and Nilufer Yalcin for the Turkish Press Council (TPC) and the World Association of Press Councils (WAPC) in Istanbul on 15-18 March, looked at various issues facing the media in the last years of the twentieth century. There was a particular emphasis on the transnational media, including satellite broadcasting.

The welcoming address was given by WAPC President, Lord McGregor of Durris, who warned of government incursions into press freedom. He stressed the importance of the message, rather than the medium. "A free man may use a quill pen, a serf the internet."

Oktay Eksi, Chairman of the TPC, a Vice President of the WAPC and editor-in-chief of Huryet, spoke on the tabled paper which outlined a possible transnational complaints facility. This raised the possibility of the WAPC establishing a panel of eminent persons who could be invited to join a panel. Professor David Flint, the Chairman of the WAPC Executive Council, spoke on globalisation and its impact on the media and on laws relating to the media.

Sessions were chaired by the opening speakers and by Dr Johan Fritz, Director of the International Press Institute, and Justice Sawant, Chairman of the Indian Press Council and a Vice President of the WAPC.

Much of the discussion concerned the proposed transnational complaints facility. Some delegates expressed fears of a government takeover of the process. Others saw considerable advantage in some form of systemic self-regulation. There was a discussion as to the feasibility of drafting an international code of ethics. Specific examples of complaints about the transnational press were raised. These included a complaint about a German television program about the PKK, the use of Bosnian footage in reference to a news item on Kashmir, and the role of the media during the Gulf War. There were criticisms of what was referred to as "parachute journalism", sending in a foreign journalist for a brief period to report a major crisis.

A working party of the WAPC reported on its work to date. In its final session, the conference recommended that the working party:

• investigate how the transnational media actually deals with complaints;
  
  
• publish results of the WAPC research, together with that of Tampere University, comparing codes of ethics applying to media in various countries;
  
  
• examine the proposals made at the conference and consult widely; and
  
  
• from this, produce an issues paper on the freedom and responsibility of the transnational media for tabling at the 1997 WAPC conference.

Anniversary dinner

In the evening of 17 March, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the TPC, the delegates were invited to a dinner given by the President of Turkey, His Excellency Suleyman Demirel, and Mrs Demirel, at the Yalde Sales Palace. Oktay Eksi welcomed the delegates. Professor Flint reminded delegates that it was fifty years since Churchill warned of an "Iron Curtain descending across Europe" and also since George Orwell had completed Animal Farm. He praised the Turkish press, and the TPC, which had achieved so much. Referring to the words of Lord Byron, together with those of Sacheverell Sitwell, he suggested that the delegates were particularly honoured to be in Istanbul.

Lord McGregor spoke on the need for the press to be free, and referred to cases where that freedom had been controversial.

The President, Suleyman Demirel, spoke of the role of the press in the life of a democracy, and praised the WAPC and the TPC on their work in relation to press freedom and responsibility.

David Flint

see also
Index of David Flint's material on the website

Judging the World Press
Dennis Pearce discusses a suggested "world press council"

Justice P B Sawant
responds to Dennis Pearce's article

[ return to top ]

Return to APC News 1996 Index

Documents with the icon require the Acrobat Reader, a Free Utility from Adobe. Click here for more information.