Dublin Castle holds AEJ conference

Dublin Castle was the setting for the 45th Association of European Journalists (AEJ) Congress and General Assembly.

The AEJ was set up in 1961 and founded by 70 journalists who believed in the potential of journalism to promote European harmony. They were determined to defend the freedom of information and freedom of the press in Europe. The AEJ is an independent non-profit-making international organisation with neither party-political nor union ties.

The weekend of the 9th & 10th November 2007 saw the annual conference deal with such pressing issues as media freedom, the Defamation bill, EU Reform Treaty and protection of sources. Organised superbly by the Dublin Branch of the AEJ, of which Eileen Dunne is the chair, the conference made for interesting debate.

An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern attended the conference and spoke about the upcoming EU Reform Treaty Referendum. He said an information campaign on the referendum will begin in January after enabling legislation is passed. The Taoiseach told the conference of journalists that "a Europe of 27 cannot operate in the same way as a Europe of six or 12".

Also discussed at the annual conference was the issue of the Defamation Bill. Miklos Haraszti, media freedom representative of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conveyed his concern about the Bill and said Ireland "shold not pass laws which are unusable". He pointed towards section 35 of the Bill which allows for a sentence of up to five years for the publication of "gravely harmful statements". Mr. Haraszti called for Ireland to drop the legislation and be an example for central and eastern European countries where journalists are being jailed for defamation.

The issue of sources arose which is a very topical issue in Ireland at the moment with regards to the Irish Times case. However, Press Ombudsman John Horgan believes the major issue that will affect the media is privacy. He said it is "not as simple as journalists or politicians or others need it to be". He said the notion of "the public interest" has changed and that the Press Council need to arrive at a proper definition of "the public interest".

The AEJ conference also launched a report into media freedom and independence. The report 'Goodbye to Freedom?' "reveals a common pattern in many countries, journalists and news organisations face multiple barriers to their work from restrictive laws, unjustified interventions by government authorities and a mixture of overt and unseen pressures to manipulate or distort their work."

The report which was edited by former BBC correspondent and AEJ media freedom representative William Horsley. It looks at the situation of media freedom in 20 European countries. Manana Aslamazyan, president of Internews Europe and co-uthor on the Russian Federation report, said journalists and media organisations were pressured through economic means more than directly against their freedom of expression. She went on to say how five journalists are in jail in Russia for "insult" crimes and in the past years more than 10 journalists had been murdered. A journalist from Moldova gave an example of how their Minister for Agriculture resigned and bosses and staff of a news programme were fired after the Minister was recorded talking about how he received money and gifts.

For more information on the report 'Goodbye to Freedom?' and the Association of European Journalists visit www.aej.org