International report

For a number of years the Commission has undertaken a limited, but proactive, programme to build international relationships. This programme sprang from concerns that self regulation in the UK could be undermined by ill thought out plans emanating from supra-national bodies – whether it be the sinister pipe dream of the discredited “World Association of Press Councils” to establish a global code of ethics, or much more dangerous plans from the EU on issues such as financial journalism. The PCC was also aware that there was no forum in which genuinely independent Press Councils – particularly at the European level – could meet to discuss matters of mutual interest and concern. To that end the PCC has:

• taken the lead in forming an Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe which is now four years old and proving of real value;
• responded to requests from other countries in Europe and across the globe for help and advice – although never funding – in establishing their own self regulatory mechanisms;
• worked with bodies such as the Commonwealth Press Union to promote self regulation in countries not so
lucky as ours in their history of press freedom; and
• co-operated with international media organisations and bodies that are involved in the key issues of regulation, ethics and customer care.

The Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe (AIPCE), which deliberately has no formal bureaucracy, has continued to be the cornerstone of our work abroad, especially as new Press Councils try to establish themselves and look to the European organisations for advice and support.

This year the annual AIPCE conference was hosted by the Malta Press Club. Building on the work begun in previous meetings in Bonn and Dublin, it proved to be an extremely useful occasion, with discussions on such important issues as the privacy rights of those in the public eye and the potentially damaging consequences of the European Directive on Market Abuse. Delegates from over fifteen countries attended the three day event in October 2002, and were also pleased to welcome observers from two countries outside of Europe – Israel and Japan. By gaining a greater understanding of how similar institutions around Europe operate, each Press Council or Complaints Commission can ensure that it is providing the best possible service to the public in its own country, a point underlined by Professor Guiseppe Mifsud Bonnici, Chairman of the Press Ethics Commission of Malta, when he addressed the Alliance:

“Ethics has now come to the rescue. It is indeed salutary for the society in which we live that journalists themselves have realised that auto-regulation of what they consider to be proper and improper behaviour on their part is a good thing for both journalism and society as a whole. The failures of the law have to be made good and at this moment it seems to me that...the only hope appears to lie in an acceptance of self-regulation based on the identification of, and a consensus on, rules based on a Code of Journalistic Ethics, which is indeed the noble but tough and difficult objective of the Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe” (Valetta, 18th October 2002).

The conference in Malta saw the unveiling of a new website – www.presscouncils.org – which has been set up with the expert help and guidance, in association with the PCC, of Claude Jean accountability. The site, which is about and for Press Councils, is managed by Professor Bertrand and is the first ever repository for information about all independent Press Councils throughout the world. Over 100 Codes of Practice are contained there, along with a discussion area, useful links and a library of information. The Commission welcomes the advent of this new website and hopes it will help the spread of self regulation, especially at a time when the desire for the establishment of new Press Councils appears to be at an all time high. Further to help this process the PCC took part in a conference in the autumn in Riga on the ‘Freedom of information and the inviolability of the private life’; and also accepted an invitation from the Ukraine to participate in a series of meetings in Kiev, the aim of which was to determine how best to institute press self regulation there.

Another project in Eastern Europe with which the Commission continues to be involved is one being sponsored by the UK Government Department for International Development. This seeks to assist media centres in Rostov-on-Don and Nizhny Novgorod in the establishment of self regulatory systems. A new Press Council has also been established recently in Belgium and the PCC was pleased to receive a visit from the Council’s Secretary-General. Last year’s Review described the work of the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU) which, with the close support of the Commission, has sought to promote press freedom and establish independent Press Councils in the Commonwealth. The CPU’s extensive programme to achieve these aims was funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and involved regional seminars in Kenya, Ghana, the Caribbean, Malta, Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa1. The series came to end in November 2002 with a closing conference in London, at which a comprehensive report, “Imperfect Freedom”, detailing the state of press freedom and self regulation in the Commonwealth was published.

Representatives from a number of the Commonwealth countries involved in the preceding series of seminars attended and described the progress that had been made on the road to establishing their own self regulatory bodies. Professor Pinker, addressing the closing conference said:
“This has been a hugely successful series of seminars, in which we are pleased to have played a part. The aim of all our international work has always been to see that we have as much independent self regulation as possible, in as many countries as possible. Great strides have been made in the Commonwealth over the last year – thanks both to the CPU and the British Government. The task now is to build on that and put theory
well and truly into practice” (London, 26th November 2002). The PCC has continued to be very closely involved with the operation of the Bosnian Press Council, of which Professor Pinker is International Chairman. Despite some funding difficulties the Council has persevered with its work of adjudicating on complaints from all sections of society and encouraging editors to follow their Code of Practice. Close links with individuals and organisations that are involved in this important area of work have also been maintained. In particular, the Commission has been represented at two major conferences of the International Press Institute and at meetings with the World Press Freedom Committee in France. Bilateral meetings were held with the media regulatory bodies in Catalonia and Norway, and the PCC was also involved in a conference in Cyprus on ‘Modern Participating organisations

Participating organisations

Austrian Press Council
Belgian Journalists’ Union
Bosnian Press Council
Catalan Press Council
Cypriot Journalists’
Code of Conduct Committee
Danish Press Council
Dutch Press Council
Estonian Press Council
Finnish Press Council
German Press Council
Greek Union of
Periodical Press Journalists
Hungarian Association
of Journalists
Icelandic Journalists’
Code of Conduct Committee
National Newspapers
of Ireland
Italian National Order
of Journalists
Committee of Ethics of Lithuanian
Journalists and Publishers
Luxembourg Press Council
Malta Press Club
Norwegian Press Complaints
Commission
Association of Journalists
of the Polish Republic
Slovene Journalists’ Society
Swedish Ombudsman
Swiss Press Council
Syndicat of Journalists
of the Czech Republic
UK Press Complaints Commission
Professor Pinker thanking
the President of Malta for his
support at the 2002 AIPCE
Conference in Valetta, Malta.