{"id":1083,"date":"2005-11-03T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-03T12:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tashuk.wordpress.com\/2005\/11\/03\/1082\/"},"modified":"2005-11-03T12:05:00","modified_gmt":"2005-11-03T12:05:00","slug":"1082","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/archives\/1083","title":{"rendered":"Journalists Warn of Threats to Press Freedom in European Union Debate over anti-Terrorism Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.ifj.org\/default.asp?Index=3434&Language=EN<\/a><\/p>\n

The European Federation of Journalists today warned that proposals from the European Commission to bring the role of journalists into its anti-terrorism strategies are reinforcing concerns of news people that politicians want to manipulate media content.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission, who is in charge of developing anti-terrorist policy, the EFJ says that suggestions about introducing a code of conduct or establishing guidelines for journalists reporting terrorism issues smacks of attempts to interfere in the work of journalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise the European Union\u2019s desire to promote co-operation in the fight against crimes of violence and we welcome preventative measures that will improve levels of public security and which will bring those responsible for terrorism to justice,\u201d says Aidan White, EFJ General Secretary in the letter to Mr Frattini. \u201cBut we believe this must be achieved without compromising the cardinal principles of journalism or the fundamental right to free expression in democratic society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EFJ is particularly worried by the Commission Communication issued on September 21st to the Parliament and the Council Terrorist Recruitment: addressing the factors contributing to violent radicalisation, which discusses the problem of journalism, broadcast media and the Internet \u201cdisseminating propaganda\u201d and giving expression to \u201cterrorist views and organisations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJournalists are particularly concerned by statements in the Communication that media should change the way they report terrorist events and that it may be beneficial for some code of conduct or other form of guidance to be adopted for media in this area,\u201d says the EFJ.<\/p>\n

The EFJ argues that as part of their professional work, journalists need access to a wide range of relevant sources and often they find themselves in contact with people connected to fringe organisations with political objectives. \u201cThis is an essential part of the architecture of investigative and professional journalism,\u201d said White.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be appalling for the European Union to seek to suspend or restrain in any way the vital rights of citizens and media professionals through actions which may limit freedom of the press or free journalism. The only winners in such a process would be the enemies of democracy who seek to promote hatred and discord in settled democracies by their acts of violence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

EFJ leaders are seeking an urgent meeting with Mr Frattini to discuss these fears and the possibility of confidence-building measures in order to support, says the EFJ, \u201ca confident, professional and vigorous journalistic environment in which the pressing issues of the day \u2013 security and public safety among them \u2013 can be properly reported without any need to interfere in the work of journalists\u201d<\/p>\n

Further information: + 32 2 235 22 00
\nThe European Federation of Journalists represents over 250,000 journalists in more than 40 countries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.ifj.org\/default.asp?Index=3434&Language=EN The European Federation of Journalists today warned that proposals from the European Commission to bring the role of journalists into its anti-terrorism strategies are reinforcing concerns of news people that politicians want to manipulate media content. In a letter … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1083\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanlodge.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}