Newsroom
Seminar on mass media held in Almaty
ALMATY 28 January 2001
ALMATY, 28 January 2001 - On 26-27 January the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Centre in Almaty, Kazakhstan together with the media monitoring NGO "Adil Soz" organized a seminar on "Strengthening Professional Relations and Co-operation between the Mass Media, Law Enforcement Bodies, and the Court System in the Republic of Kazakhstan."
The seminar in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, took place within the framework of the "Civil Society Assistance" project foreseen in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Government of Kazakhstan and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
As with previous civil society assistance seminars, the initiative to focus upon relations between the media and representatives of state structures stemmed from civil society itself. Indeed the discussions that occurred during the two-day seminar demonstrated that issues such as the right to access to information, professionalism, journalistic ethics, and attempts to restrict freedom of expression and speech are of great concern and great interest to society as a whole.
The seminar, which sought to underline the importance of transparency, objectivity, and mutual respect as the basis of relations between journalists and government structures, focused upon how to best construct relations between the press on one side and law enforcement bodies and the court system on the other and upon the role of press services/secretaries. The participants also discussed in great detail the proposed amendments to the "Law on the Mass Media" that the Parliament will consider 31 January. Two documents—a resolution calling upon the Parliament not to approve the amendments to the "Law on the Mass Media" and recommendations on basic principles of co-operation between the mass media and state bodies—were considered during the seminar.
A telling sign of the problems that journalists face when interacting with civil servants is the extremely poor attendance of those government agencies invited to participate in the event. Journalists who traveled to Astana from cities all across Kazakhstan learned with regret that the majority of government representatives, despite repeated assurances, chose to remain in their offices some two or three blocks away from the seminar. Only the Ministry of Justice and Presidential Administration were represented throughout the seminar, and there were only a few press secretaries- those individuals with whom the journalists most wished to establish contacts.
Mrs. Ellen Best, a judge and press secretary from Bremen, Germany participated in the seminar as an OSCE/ODIHR expert. She shared her experiences with the participants and also spoke about German best practices on access to information and co-operation between journalists and representatives of state structures.
For more information contact, please contact the OSCE Centre in Almaty, tel.: (+7-3272) 62 17 62, fax: (+7-3272) 62 43 85, e-mail:osce@nursat.kz
The seminar in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, took place within the framework of the "Civil Society Assistance" project foreseen in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Government of Kazakhstan and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
As with previous civil society assistance seminars, the initiative to focus upon relations between the media and representatives of state structures stemmed from civil society itself. Indeed the discussions that occurred during the two-day seminar demonstrated that issues such as the right to access to information, professionalism, journalistic ethics, and attempts to restrict freedom of expression and speech are of great concern and great interest to society as a whole.
The seminar, which sought to underline the importance of transparency, objectivity, and mutual respect as the basis of relations between journalists and government structures, focused upon how to best construct relations between the press on one side and law enforcement bodies and the court system on the other and upon the role of press services/secretaries. The participants also discussed in great detail the proposed amendments to the "Law on the Mass Media" that the Parliament will consider 31 January. Two documents—a resolution calling upon the Parliament not to approve the amendments to the "Law on the Mass Media" and recommendations on basic principles of co-operation between the mass media and state bodies—were considered during the seminar.
A telling sign of the problems that journalists face when interacting with civil servants is the extremely poor attendance of those government agencies invited to participate in the event. Journalists who traveled to Astana from cities all across Kazakhstan learned with regret that the majority of government representatives, despite repeated assurances, chose to remain in their offices some two or three blocks away from the seminar. Only the Ministry of Justice and Presidential Administration were represented throughout the seminar, and there were only a few press secretaries- those individuals with whom the journalists most wished to establish contacts.
Mrs. Ellen Best, a judge and press secretary from Bremen, Germany participated in the seminar as an OSCE/ODIHR expert. She shared her experiences with the participants and also spoke about German best practices on access to information and co-operation between journalists and representatives of state structures.
For more information contact, please contact the OSCE Centre in Almaty, tel.: (+7-3272) 62 17 62, fax: (+7-3272) 62 43 85, e-mail:osce@nursat.kz