Activity Details (ID# 6926)

Activity Synopsis

The main objective of the seminar was to provide journalists from the local media with practical training on the coverage of elections in accordance with the CoE standards (Recommandation No. R (99) 15 on measures concerning media coverage of elections campaigns) in the perspective of the Presidential elections at the end of October 2004. The programme was articulated in four parts: Introduction to the techniques of media coverage of elections, Preparatory work, Coverage of the polls, Presentation of the results.

 

The participants were mostly journalists of the independent print media coming form the Sumy district. Two participants were journalists of the municipal press.
The text of the Recommandation No. R (99) 15 on measures concerning media coverage of elections campaigns and of its Explanatory Memorandum was distributed to the participants, as well as the CoE handbook on Media and elections (all the material was available in Ukrainian).
The trainer distributed his own material (samples of “La Voix du Nord” covering French regional and presidential elections and the recent European elections).
The programme of the seminar proved to be too ambitious, given the kind of difficulties and obstacles faced by the journalists in the exercice of their daily activities in the district of Sumy.
Three general issues emerged from the discussions held during the seminar: the journalists undergo a lot of pressure from local political authorities (some participants quoted personal experiences where they were forced to change the content of their articles), the municipal media are far from playing any public service role, the judiciary is not independent from the executive power (examples from recent local elections showed that the delay in dealing with disputes concerning the registration of opposition candidates prevented the latter to take part in the elections campaign and in some cases even in the elections). One specific issue concerning in particular the district of Sumy was also revealed: the local printing house refuses to print magazines if their content is critical of local politicians or simply likely not to be appreciated by local authorities.

In the afternoon of the second day, a press conference on the seminar was held at the local press club. Around twenty journalists were present.

 

The participants stressed the need for international assistance not only in the field of technical training but also and especially in the monitoring of the local situation concerning freedom of the press. 

Journalists from the district of Sumy 

Mr Henry Dudzinski, District Director of “La Voix du Nord” (France)

 

Ms Alessia Sonaglioni, Media Division, Directorate General of Human Rights