Andrei Richter

Director, the Moscow Media Law and Policy Institute Russia

The process of regulating the activities of the media is a challenge for all modern states
A free press has the traditional meaning of a press empowered by the liberty afforded it by the state to stand apart from, and enjoy some access to, the affairs of government. Yet in present times of crisis, of internal and external threats, the “war on terrorism”, this and other freedoms are often bypassed in favor of competing government interests.

In Russia, the “war on terrorism” is related to Chechnya and events surrounding it. In the U.S., it is focused on Iraq. The Moldovan government finds terrorists in the Transdniester republic, The Georgian authorities – in Abkhazia. What unites these politically and geographically separate conflicts is that the authorities count on the mass media and journalists and their understanding and support of the governmental antiterrorist position. In the opinion of governments, the “war on terrorism” is more of an ideological, social, and moral phenomenon than a military one. Wherever the journalists persist they are not political “freedom fighters”, authorities tend to use heavy sticks, usually in the form of statutes and decrees.

Restrictions on the freedom of the mass media in the context of the “war on terrorism” concern international legal advocacy organisations and international bodies: The Council of Europe, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression for the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS), Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression for the OSCE, International Commission of Jurists, etc.

In particular, the Declaration on mass media freedom during the war on terrorism adopted at the Third Central-Asian Conference on mass media held in Almaty on December 10-11, 2001, emphasised that “the governments of countries participating in the anti-terrorism alliance should not use the provision of national security as an argument to restrict human rights in their own country or fail to support human rights in other countries during the conflict period.” The governments are called on to hold the temptation to use the conflict situation as a justification for using oppressive measures in the fight with the mass media expressing oppositional opinions. In their turn, journalists must make efforts to prepare objective articles and exercise careful editing when covering a conflict.