Biba Klomp
06-09-2009, 01:11 PM
Commissioner Viviane Reding met today Mr Hans-Ulrich Jörges, editor-in-chief of the German magazine Stern and initiator of the European Charter on Freedom of the Press. The Charter was signed on 25 May by 48 European journalists from 19 countries to protect the press from government interference and ensure journalists' access to sources of information. The Charter, which formulates the main values that public authorities should respect when dealing with journalists, was presented and handed over by Mr Jörges today to Commissioner Viviane Reding who welcomed journalists' adoption of this first European Charter of Freedom of the Press.
"The Charter on Freedom of the Press initiated by the European journalist community is an important reaffirmation of the basic values, including media pluralism, freedom of expression and information that underpin Europe's democratic traditions and are enshrined in fundamental legal texts. It is also a reminder that in order to have effective freedom of the press, public authorities have a role to play: they must be ready to protect freedom of expression and foster its development," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "The Charter is therefore an important step towards reinforcing these basic values and rights allowing journalists to invoke them against governments or public authorities whenever they feel the freedom of their work is unjustifiably threatened."
Mr Hans-Ulrich Jörges, editor-in-chief of the German magazine Stern and initiator of the Charter added: “We are very grateful to Viviane Reding for supporting unreservedly from the outset the idea of a European Charter on Freedom of the Press. We therefore assume that the Commission will itself comply with this Charter and will contribute actively to ensuring its recognition throughout Europe. At the same time, we expect recognition of the Charter to be made a condition for candidate countries in future accession negotiations. The Charter's main concern is at last to unify Europe journalistically and to enable all our colleagues to invoke its principles if press freedom is violated”.
The Charter's ten articles outline basic principles that governments must respect when dealing with journalists, such as prohibition of censorship, free access to national and foreign media sources and freedom to gather and disseminate information. The Charter also emphasises the protection of journalists from being spied on and calls for an effective judiciary system safeguarding the rights of journalists (full text of the Charter in the Annex). So far, the Charter exists in eight languages (English, French, German, Danish, Croatian, Russian, Polish and Romanian) and is available online where interested journalists can sign it.
The idea of the Charter on Freedom of the Press was born in 2007, during a meeting between Commissioner Reding, Mr Jörges and other editors-in-chief of European newspapers (IP/07/713). Such high-level dialogues between the written press and the Commission have been organised since 2005 on a yearly basis on a range of different topics (see also IP/05/1164, IP/06/1445 and IP/08/1091) by the Commission's Media Task Force, responsible for screening all Commission output so as to make sure that Commission initiatives do not unintentionally damage the editorial or commercial freedom of the printed press. The Charter on the Freedom of the press is a concrete outcome of these fruitful discussions between various media and the European Commission.
The European Charter on Freedom of the Press and the list of its signatories can be accessed at: http://www.pressfreedom.eu
"The Charter on Freedom of the Press initiated by the European journalist community is an important reaffirmation of the basic values, including media pluralism, freedom of expression and information that underpin Europe's democratic traditions and are enshrined in fundamental legal texts. It is also a reminder that in order to have effective freedom of the press, public authorities have a role to play: they must be ready to protect freedom of expression and foster its development," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "The Charter is therefore an important step towards reinforcing these basic values and rights allowing journalists to invoke them against governments or public authorities whenever they feel the freedom of their work is unjustifiably threatened."
Mr Hans-Ulrich Jörges, editor-in-chief of the German magazine Stern and initiator of the Charter added: “We are very grateful to Viviane Reding for supporting unreservedly from the outset the idea of a European Charter on Freedom of the Press. We therefore assume that the Commission will itself comply with this Charter and will contribute actively to ensuring its recognition throughout Europe. At the same time, we expect recognition of the Charter to be made a condition for candidate countries in future accession negotiations. The Charter's main concern is at last to unify Europe journalistically and to enable all our colleagues to invoke its principles if press freedom is violated”.
The Charter's ten articles outline basic principles that governments must respect when dealing with journalists, such as prohibition of censorship, free access to national and foreign media sources and freedom to gather and disseminate information. The Charter also emphasises the protection of journalists from being spied on and calls for an effective judiciary system safeguarding the rights of journalists (full text of the Charter in the Annex). So far, the Charter exists in eight languages (English, French, German, Danish, Croatian, Russian, Polish and Romanian) and is available online where interested journalists can sign it.
The idea of the Charter on Freedom of the Press was born in 2007, during a meeting between Commissioner Reding, Mr Jörges and other editors-in-chief of European newspapers (IP/07/713). Such high-level dialogues between the written press and the Commission have been organised since 2005 on a yearly basis on a range of different topics (see also IP/05/1164, IP/06/1445 and IP/08/1091) by the Commission's Media Task Force, responsible for screening all Commission output so as to make sure that Commission initiatives do not unintentionally damage the editorial or commercial freedom of the printed press. The Charter on the Freedom of the press is a concrete outcome of these fruitful discussions between various media and the European Commission.
The European Charter on Freedom of the Press and the list of its signatories can be accessed at: http://www.pressfreedom.eu