Media freedom challenge

Challenges to the media were a major feature of the conference, where the presidents of both Kazakhstan and Iran acknowledged the media’s importance but voiced concern about freedom.

These challenges unfolded on the first day and rumbled on until the conference closed, with an International Press Institute (IPI) critique on the media in Eurasia and an intervention by the head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) centre in Almaty.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, in a welcome address, said his country’s mass media must follow the example of good citizens and emphasized that compliance with the law was a basic need for the development of democracy, human rights and freedom.

«It is critically important that the mass media actively support and render assistance to the development and standing of our state, civil society, maintenance of political stability, international and social peace and accord,» he said.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, in his address, said: «Now, in the environment of free press and media, objective presentation of the news, independence and impartiality in the journalist profession, equanimity and tolerance of different viewpoints have all been endangered. There is an urgent need for a way out of this entanglement.»

But, he said: «Today, dialogue among civilizations is essential for understanding, formulation and adoption of a mechanism for the resolution of common problems facing mankind across the world.

»The mass media are the forum for such a dialogue through which the thoughts of people across the world and then orientation of public opinion can be reflected.«Khabar Agency’s Dariga Nazarbayeva, speaking during a panel session on the concept and vision of Eurasia, said the ’tragic events’ of September 11 had broken down old boundaries and made the whole world fragile.

In this new situation, journalists had a high responsibility for promoting understanding and rejecting stereotype reporting.

She called for a guidance document for the international media: «The East-West information space needs a clear-cut code of traffic rules.»

The IFJ’s Aidan White said: «In the 10 years since the political landscape of this region was redrawn almost every country old and new has proclaimed a commitment to democracy, a market economy and the defence of human rights. Each has adopted national laws that, in theory at least, protect press freedom and prohibit censorship.

»How is it then that today this region still has some of the world’s worst ratings in terms of abuse of journalists’ rights?» he added in the opening session.

The Paris-based International Herald Tribune announced during the conference that it had reached agreement with Dariga Nazarbayeva of Khabar Agency to pursue a joint venture with a view to printing and distributing the newspaper in Kazakhstan and the Central Asian republics.

«This venture demonstrates Kazakhstan’s willingness to embrace the independent press,» said Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, the IHT’s Vice-President and Commercial Director.