Activity Details (ID# 5007)

Activity Synopsis

The objective was to offer participants relevant examples and the chance to exchange practical experience about how newspaper associations engage in lobbying, self-regulation and other related activities, to receive new examples of basic association structure and management and to assess and revise association action plans, particularly as concerns legal matters.

Participants first joined newspaper association directors from around Europe to hear about the structure of such associations and their lobbying strategies toward the European Commission, especially what is expected in an expanded EU from those ten “accession” countries who are similar but “ahead” of those represented by the participants.

Then, separate sessions provided specific descriptions and explanations of how the Czech and Austrian press associations were created, maintained and effectively managed, and of the strategic legal activity of associations in both Eastern and Western Europe.

Participants heard about Europe’s most recent creation of a press council in Belgium and about the functioning of the Estonian Press Council.

 

Participants provided an update on progress toward goals they had set at the last roundtable, held in Moscow in November 2002. They also presented a new set of goals and set priorities, creating a new action plan for the next 12 months.

WAN provided participants with documentation on the structure and activities of the Austrian Association, on the Flemish Press Council, on Czech association activities and on self-regulation and lobbying in Sweden. The package also included background information on newspapers and value added tax and on the defence of journalists.

 

The creation of newspaper associations is an ongoing process, and this third session helped the five teams advance. However, funding problems obliged several other teams to withdraw from the Roundtable who could otherwise have both benefited from the experience while also offering examples from emerging democracies where the association idea is more developed. Thus, it will be important to offer these five teams another occasion to share experiences with at least the ten other teams who attended the second roundtable.

 

Five teams that included two publishers and a newspaper association director or media institute coordinator 

Alex Fordyn, Director General of VlaamseDagbladpers (association for the Flemish newspapers of Belgium); Walter Schaffelhofer, General Secretary VOEZ, the Austrian newspaper association; Per Hultengard, Director and Legal Advisor, Svenska Tidningsutgivareforeningen, the Swedish newspaper association; Michal Klima, CEO, Economia and founding member of UVDT, Czech publishers association; Tarmu Tammerk, Managing , Director, EALL, Estonian newspaper association; Arek Gruchot, Polish Local Press Association