Welcome Speech by Dariga Nazarbayeva at the Third Eurasian Media Forum Almaty, April 22, 2004

Dear participants and guests to the Third Eurasian Media Forum, dear colleagues!
I am sincerely happy to see you.

Despite all those things happening in the world the Forum is taking place in Almaty for the third time. It brings together journalists, writers, politicians, political scientists, government officials, philosophers, economists - i.e. everyone willing to comprehend the most critical issues faced by the mankind today.
It looks like the relatively smooth and safe after-war period of the last half-century is coming to an end. There are numerous signs showing that we are now in historical turbulence. When entering the new century four years ago we could not imagine that in the era of Internet, cloning and interplanetary flights, events of medieval barbarism and ferocity would be possible.

It looks like we are completely unready for such a turn. Instead of deeply analyzing the principles of these tragic occurrences, we have invented labels like "international terrorism" and "war of civilizations". These phrases give only a superficial description of the phenomena. They are far from defining their nature.
The current situation should not be dramatized excessively. But it is possible to suppose that September 11th was like the appearance of the mystical and ominous signs on the walls of Balthazar's palace. At the first Forum we spoke about inter - culture and even inter - civilization dialogue. But the prospect of war in Iraq, though very vague, could already be discerned. Closing the Forum, we wished each other that the war would not begin after all. However, when we met a year later, the major topic on our agenda was the Iraq war, where the ruins of the "quick" victory were still smoldering.

While planning this forum, we knew that we would be discussing the reconstruction of Iraqi society. But the tragedy has kindled anew. Every day we are watching the war on TV. But the fact that the technology and journalists make it possible to watch it live is a poor consolation.

For mass media the year 2004 is a Year of Big Elections. This year presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in sixty-nine countries; in Russia the elections have already been held.
How do the mass media analyze and cover elections? How to differentiate between independent evaluations and political advertising? What is the price of journalists' responsibility to the society?

Discussing these questions is critical during the election campaigns. It is very important what the media tell the society and how they do it. This is the issue of journalists' responsibility to the society. Bernard Shaw said, "Freedom means responsibility. That is why everybody is so afraid of it". We should not be afraid of freedom, but act out of moral and ethical principles. Absence of moral restrictions generates instability and injustice. I am convinced that the question of professional ethics in journalism is now timely as never before. This is the issue we should all be discussing and analyzing now.

The issue of freedom of speech, journalist activity in emergency situations and the restriction of reporter activities under conditions of terrorist threat is becoming increasingly urgent today.

Many countries have made amendments to their media legislations regulating journalists' behavior when covering anti-terrorist operations. The tendency of these amendments is to tighten control over media. This is not the problem of emerging democracies only. It contains a lot of food for thought. And I am sure this problem will be raised by the participants during the Forum.

The issue of media control, the role of media and freedom of speech has gone beyond academic discussions. It has become one of the most urgent items on many countries' national agenda.
History has posed us a challenge - to find the balance between protection from terrorism and freedom of speech. I believe that this Forum will substantially help us meet this challenge.
Thank you and good luck!