Toespraak Verhagen bij conferentie 'Better Journalism, More Press Freedom' (Engels)
Organised by Free Voice and the Centre for Defending Freedom of Journalists.
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Ladies and gentlemen,
1. Introduction
It’s a great pleasure to join you this evening for the closing dinner of your conference. I hope you have had inspiring and fruitful discussions, sharing experiences in the field of journalism. I’m glad to see so many media leaders from different Arab and Asian countries gathered here today to discuss an issue as important as press freedom. This is a continuing subject of debate here in the Netherlands and Europe, as it is in the Arab and Asian world.
I would like to thank Free Voice and its Jordanian partner, the Centre for Defending Freedom of Journalists, for organising this event. And I congratulate them on successfully completing the first phase of their programme ‘Investing in the Future’, which is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a member for many years of the Supervisory Board of Free Voice, I am particularly glad to be here tonight.
Let me begin by citing one of the greatest reformers of the nineteenth-century Arab world, Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905). As a young man, Abduh paid homage in a poem to the power of the newspaper.
The newspaper, he said, is the nourishment of the spirits … the tongue of heavenly secrets [and] guidance for those who seek. [It] alerts the inattentive [and] has taken it upon itself to spread the sciences among the common people.
Abduh was one of the most important figures among the Arab modernists who started disseminating ideas in the second half of the nineteenth century on how to reconcile tradition with modernity. The movement’s greatest practical innovation was the periodical press, which was established in virtually every community in the region. From these widely distributed newspapers, magazines and journals flowed a stream of words that reached a broad audience – particularly when items were read aloud.
2. ‘Old’ and ‘new’ journalism
Obviously, the world has changed a great deal since Abduh’s time. You will not find many people on the streets today reading news articles aloud. Now it only takes a split second to get an update on the latest news from around the globe, simply by switching on your mobile phone or connecting to the world wide web.
News is everywhere and more widely available than ever before. It has become a commodity, whose sale and distribution can generate substantial profits. Today’s multimedia information society provides any number of new trends and virtual platforms, such as the blogosphere, YouTube and Wikipedia – to mention only a few. I myself have recently been introduced to the Twitter community, a sort of micro blogging service. You can let the world know what you’re up to in two or three sentences – a very practical tool for a politician.
More traditional communications media – newspapers, television and radio – are no longer the main sources of news. The rapid public availability of facts, images and sound through the internet and mobile phone networks is having a far-reaching impact on fact-finding, reporting and news analysis.
Within this new framework of information-gathering, I think journalists have no choice but to become information brokers and interpreters rather than sticking to their more traditional role as messengers with a monopoly on news supply. Your value today lies in producing order from the abundance of information and images in our societies.
3. Press freedom and democracy
In my view, the quality of journalism in a given country reflects the extent and effectiveness of its democracy. Daily newspapers emerged in the nineteenth century because active citizens wanted to make their voices heard and express their ideas. A free press is a pillar of a democratic society. People need to be well informed to cast their votes wisely and responsibly.
Journalism is the bearer of a democratic debate in which citizens have a fundamental right to be informed and to participate. Only then we can speak of informed citizenship and participatory democracy, which are essential aspects of today’s society. Media diversity is key to healthy, balanced public debate.
A healthy democracy depends on its citizens, whose ideas should be reflected by pluralist media. Policies should not be sold to the public by government-controlled media. If that happens, the messenger is determining the content of the message.
4. Press freedom and human rights
Ladies and gentlemen,
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states,
‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’
The Dutch government strongly defends freedom of expression – including press freedom and freedom of access to information – as a fundamental human right. It is also central to the protection of other human rights. Because freedom of expression allows people to demand other human rights, such as justice, equality before the law and freedom of religion or belief. Without freedom of expression, these other freedoms cannot be properly exercised. Moreover, freedom of expression makes electoral democracy meaningful, builds public trust in government, and strengthens mechanisms for holding governments accountable.
So we go to great lengths to defend freedom of expression, even when it is used to express views that are controversial. However, freedom of expression is not a licence to insult other people at will. It carries with it a responsibility to consider the consequences of one’s words, as explicitly stated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
I would like to stress that tradition, culture or religion may never be used to justify undermining, still less violating, human rights, including freedom of expression.
Nor may the right to freedom of religion or belief be eroded – meaning not only the freedom to profess one’s beliefs, but also the obligation to respect the religious or philosophical convictions of others.
A decline in freedom of the press is a warning sign that restrictions on other freedoms may soon follow. Conversely, an increase in press freedom is a catalyst for the advancement of other human rights. For example, to improve the human rights situation in a country, it is crucial that human rights defenders be able to speak their minds freely.
Unfortunately, global press freedom suffered a clear decline in 2007, as Freedom House showed in its most recent survey. The decline continues a six-year negative trend. Journalists are struggling to work in increasingly hostile environments in almost every region of the world.
One trend that has restricted media freedom is the adoption of laws that are used to punish critical journalists. I know that some of your colleagues have been arrested because they had the courage to report on issues in ways that displeased your governments. So I am glad that the training programme ‘Investing in the Future’ is helping to increase journalists’ legal awareness and their knowledge of international human rights standards with regard to media legislation, freedom of expression and legal safeguards.
Fortunately, the Freedom House report showed some improvement in the region with the least press freedom: the Middle East and North Africa. A growing number of journalists in this region are willing to challenge government restrictions and to push the boundaries. Egyptian journalists in particular showed an increased willingness to cross red lines, thus moving their country from Freedom House’s ‘Not Free’ category to its ‘Partly Free’ category.
I applaud you all for your courage and commitment in difficult circumstances. For you, journalism is not merely a career – it is a mission. A mission to pursue the truth, to break taboos, to reflect the world in which we live. Last but certainly not least, it is a mission to work for a freer world, in which everyone is entitled to express his or her thoughts and ideas. As a strong supporter of this mission, I encourage you to keep the debate on journalism and press freedom alive.
Thank you.