11/05/2005 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Journalists faced with terrorist atrocities should be free to report them objectively, without restriction by the state, but they should also “avoid a race for sensational news and images which plays into the hands of terrorists”, PACE’s Culture Committee said in a draft recommendation unanimously adopted today. In particular they should “refrain from disseminating shocking pictures or images of terrorist acts which violate the privacy and human dignity of victims or contribute to the terrorising effect of such acts”, the parliamentarians said. The report, by Josef Jařab (Czech Republic, LDR), is due for debate at the Assembly’s Summer plenary session (20-24 June 2005).
10/05/2005 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
PACE's Culture Committee will hold an exchange of views with EU Education and Culture Commissioner Ján Figel and meets a delegation from its sister committee in the European Parliament during its meeting in Strasbourg on 11 May. It is also due to approve a report by Josef Jařab (Czech Republic, LDR) on Media and Terrorism.
18/03/2005 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
How are we to “manage” images of terrorist acts, their accompanying messages and incitement to hatred? Is it in fact possible to regulate the media in this area when terrorists are becoming increasingly skilled in staging their actions, and handling images and the new technologies with great finesse? These were the questions on the agenda for this exchange of views among the PACE parliamentarians and media representatives present. One of the journalists attending was Timur Aliyev, editor-in-chief of the “Chechen Society” newspaper (one of the few independent Chechen organs based in Ingushia). Francisco Gor, a leader writer with “El Pais” (Madrid, Georges Malbrunot, a reporter with “Le Figaro” (Paris), Vit Pohanka, a journalist on Czech Radio (Prague), Mohamed Krichen, a TV presenter and member of the editorial board of the Arab television channel “Al-Jazeera” (Qatar), and Stephen Whittle, the Controller of Editorial Policy at the BBC (London).
10/03/2005 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Vice-Chair of PACE’s Culture Committee Josef Jařab (Czech Republic, LDR) today opened the 7th European Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy in Kyiv by hailing the role of the Ukrainian media during the Orange Revolution. In Prague during the Velvet Revolution as in Kyiv, he said, “it was the media that quickly manifested dramatic changes in their work and attitudes, and it was the media that helped the revolutionary spirit to spread and gain the needed momentum”. Stressing that media policy could enhance democratic development, Mr Jarab also pointed out that a truly pan-European media policy – based on the conference’s themes of integration and diversity – could only be achieved via the Council of Europe.
02/12/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Council of Europe's Museum Prize for 2005 has been awarded to the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, Greece. The museum, displayed in eleven galleries each devoted to a specific subject, aims to communicate all aspects of life in the Byzantine era, including art and intellectual development, the organisation of society, religion and everyday life. The jury appreciated “the excellence of the museum and the balance between conservation, restoration and presentation”.
30/11/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Meeting in Paris on 2 December, the Committee on Culture, Science and Education holds a hearing with Muslim, Jewish, Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican and Evangelical Christian clerics to discuss the place of religions in education in Europe.
10/09/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
“The concept of cultural diversity is more important than individual cultural identities,” said French Culture and Communication Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, speaking yesterday in Paris at a hearing on cultural diversity organised by the Assembly’s Culture Committee. The committee’s Chair Lluís Maria de Puig (Spain, SOC) added that European culture itself was “a further element in the mosaic” of individual European cultures. Stressing the strategic priority of culture in national and international policy, the French Minister said he “took his hat off” to the work of the Council of Europe in the field.
05/07/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Edward O’Hara (United Kingdom, SOC), General Rapporteur on the Cultural Heritage of the Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education, visited from 12 to 14 July the site of the Rosia Montana gold mine, in the Apuseni mountains of western-central Romania, to assess whether plans to re-activate mining activities respect this archaeological site. He met representatives of Romanian authorities, the mine’s owners and NGOs opposed to the plan, and will report back to the committee with his conclusions after the summer.
24/06/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Italian parliament should ensure that legislation and other regulatory measures put an end to the long-standing practice of political interference in the media and pass a law resolving the conflict of interest between ownership and control of companies and discharge of public office, the Assembly said in a resolution adopted today. They called on the Italian Parliament to take specific measures to bring an end to the current RAI-Mediaset duopoly. However, they did not approve a recommendation to European governments on the same subject.
08/06/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
From 8 to 12 June, Lord Russell-Johnston (United Kingdom, LDR), who is preparing a report on “the cultural situation of the Kurds” on behalf of the Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education, will visit cultural centres in Diyarbakir, Mardin and Hakkari, and a Kurdish language centre in Van. In Ankara he will meet Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, Education Minister Hüseyin Çelik and the minister responsible for Turkish radio and television Beşir Atalay (to be confirmed). In Istanbul, he will visit the Kurdish Institute and the Mesopotamia Cultural Centre as well as meeting the press.
25/05/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Italian authorities should put an end to the long-standing practice of political interference in the media and deal urgently and convincingly with the problem of conflict of interest, the Assembly’s Culture Committee said in a draft resolution made public today. In a report by Paschal Mooney (Ireland, LDR) approved last week, the committee said that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi held “unprecedented control over the most powerful medium" in the country. The negative international image of Italy resulting from this conflict of interest could hamper the efforts of the Council of Europe in promoting independent media in the new democracies, the parliamentarians said. The report is due for debate at the Assembly’s summer session.
14/05/2004 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Paschal Mooney (Ireland, LDR), rapporteur on the Media of the Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Science and Education, will participate as a panellist in the World Congress of the International Press Institute in Warsaw from 17 to 18 May. He will join representatives from Unesco, the OSCE and the Organization of American States on Monday 17 May for a discussion on the theme: “holding member states of international governmental organisations to their press freedom commitments”.