Title: |
Seminar on transparency in ownership and media concentrations |
Description: |
- Original Location: St-Petersburg, Russian Federation |
Status: |
Completed |
Date: |
21/09/2004 - 22/09/2004
|
Countries: |
Russian Federation
|
Contributors: |
|
Programme: |
CoE Programmes (PoA and VC)
|
Working Method: |
Organisation of meetings - Seminar |
Location: |
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation |
CoE Contact: |
SONAGLIONI, Alessia
email
|
Partners: |
Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) - Local or National NGO |
Web Pages: |
1 http://www.coe.int/media |
Last Modified: |
23/09/2004 |
Activity Synopsis |
|
Objective(s): |
The seminar had two main objectives: on the one hand, to present the CoE standards concerning media pluralism and transparency and give an overview of anti-concentration measures existing in several European countries, on the other, to debate the situation of the Russian media landscape with regard to media pluralism and transparency.
|
Output/Results: |
The seminar was well organised, although the attendance declined from 25 participants in the morning of the first day to 15 during the morning of the second day.
All participants received the Russian version of Recommendation R (99) 1 on measures to promote media pluralism and Recommendation R (94) 13 on transparency of media ownership.
The participants showed a great interest in the presentations made by the CoE experts. However, they expressed great pessimism as to the possibility to implement measures promoting media pluralism and transparency in the Russian Federation. From their point of view, the present political situation constituted the major obstacle to changes in the media field.
During the lively discussions, the participants exchanged their points of view on the long list of problems affecting the Russian media: the dominating power of public authorities over the media, especially electronic media, the lack of professionalism among journalists, the total lack of transparency of media ownership, the strong political resistance to the creation of a genuine public service broadcasting, the absence of a clear legal framework for the media, etc.
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Conclusions/Follow Up: |
The participants were very pessimistic and not able to formulate any concrete proposal as a follow-up to the seminar.
|
Participants: |
Journalists of the St Petersburg Union of Journalists coming mostly from the regions
|
Consultants/Experts: |
Dr David WARD, Senior Reserarch Fellow, University of Westminster, The U.K.
Mr Bernd MALZANINI, Director, Commission on Concentration in the Media (KEK), Potsdam, Germany
|
CoE Secretariat: |
Alessia Sonaglioni, Media Division, Directorate General of Human Rights
|
Total No. Participants: |
25 |
Last Modified: |
07/12/2004 |