INTERNATIONAL REPORT

The Commission's last Annual Review outlined the way in which the Commission seeks to assist - with guidance and experience - other countries seeking to establish Press Councils, particularly in Europe and the Commonwealth.

The Review also outlined the Commission's very real concerns about the activities of the so-called World Association of Press Councils (WAPC) in pressing for the establishment of some form of global Code of ethics, and a cross-border complaints authority to police it. *

Throughout 1998 and 1999 the Commission sought to persuade WAPC to drop these plans - which the PCC believed could only be misused by authoritarian Governments seeking to control a free press. Part of the Commission's strategy, again set out in the 1999 Review, was to help establish the Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe (AIPCE) - a loose-knit grouping of independent, self regulatory Press Councils in Europe opposed to any form of global Code.

* Annual Review 1999, page 6

By the spring of 2000 it had become apparent to the Commission that WAPC had not listened to the very real concerns of the PCC and many other Press Councils - and that it intended to push ahead with these dangerous plans at a Conference in Egypt. This was to take place at a time when the Egyptian Government itself was seeking to control the vestiges of a free press in that country. Furthermore, most of the Press Councils represented in WAPC were not themselves genuinely self regulatory and independent of Government.

In March, the PCC - which had joined WAPC when it was founded with laudable aims in 1992 - decided to withdraw from the World Association.

The PCC's withdrawal was followed quickly by that of the Australian Press Council, which was one of the other founding members of WAPC - leaving the World Association with only a rump of state run Press Councils, and no representation at all in Europe. WAPC quickly shelved its plans to press for some form of global Code.

In Europe, representatives of around 20 Press Councils met for the second Annual Conference of AIPCE in Bonn. Hosted by the German Press Council, topics included the impact of data protection legislation on the media and the development of voluntary codes for on-line journalism. Participants in AIPCE maintain contact throughout the year using a website (www.aipce.org) where there is a discussion area and a calendar of forthcoming events. Although the main body of the site is not open to members of the public, there is a directory of participants and other contacts on the homepage which can be freely accessed.

Members of the Commission and its staff were closely involved in the establishment of the Bosnian Press Council, which was founded in September by Bosnian publishers with the assistance of the Independent Media Commission. The Press Council wanted its first years to be overseen by an international chairman with a successful record in the field of self-regulation and accordingly invited Lord Wakeham to be its first Chairman - a post he accepted in November 2000. At the time, Dieter Loraine, the Head of Communications for the UN Independent Media Commission (IMC) in Bosnia, said:

"The establishment of Bosnia's first Press Council is a major step in the continuing democratisation and independence of the media in BiH. Ever since April 1999 when the journalists' associations agreed on a unique voluntary Press Code, the IMC - supported by the OSCE - has encouraged their efforts to establish a Press Council to implement the Code. We are delighted that Lord Wakeham has accepted the invitation of the founding associations to chair the Council and steer it through its early and most crucial stages of development"
(Sarajevo, 8th September 2000).

The Commission continues to liaise closely with the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) in seeking to promote press freedom and the establishment of independent Press Councils in the Commonwealth - most notably in 2000 in Kenya and Sri Lanka.

Addressing the Biennial Meeting of the CPU in Barbados in November 2000, Lord Wakeham underlined the PCC's continuing commitment in this area:

"The Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe, which the PCC was in the vanguard of establishing, points the way forward for all of us - in Europe, in the Commonwealth and elsewhere. That is, in ensuring that as the one sure foundation for press freedom we have as much truly independent self regulation by newspapers as possible in as many countries as possible.

"That is a task to which I know the CPU is committed as much as I am - and one where our two organisations continue to work closely and constructively together in the interests of a free, responsible press throughout the Commonwealth and elsewhere. Together we have worked in Kenya and Sri Lanka at the request of the CPU on important projects to establish Press Councils, and we will continue to do what we can to assist such work whenever we are asked."

The PCC also continues to maintain close links with other organisations involved in this important area of work, including the World Press Freedom Committee and the International Press Institute.

Representatives of European Press Councils meet for the Second AIPCE Conference in Bonn.
Photograph reproduced by kind permission of the German Press Council

Participating organisations