The Third CIME Forum has been a great success!

2011-2-19 20:57| 发布者: admin| 查看: 29892| 评论: 1

摘要: Our last one-day media ethics conference took place in Budapest, Hungary on the 15th of January, 2011. The event was held from 10 am until 4pm at the Central European University - organised by the Cen ...

Our last one-day media ethics conference took place in Budapest, Hungary on the 15th of January, 2011. The event was held from 10 am until 4pm at the Central European University - organised by the Center for International Media Ethics.

The aim of the Forum was to allow respected journalism professionals to share and discuss their experiences concerning regional media ethics issues and encourage the Central and Eastern European journalism community to apply improved ethical practises. The program includes two panel discussions.

The topic of the morning panel was:
Ethics of Media Self-Regulation: Regional Perspectives from NGOs and Journalists

Our panelists:
Oliver Vujovic, Secretary General of SEEMO;
Adam Lebor, Writer for The Times and The Economist;
Samaruddin Stewart, Photojournalist based in Budapest;
György Vajda, Board Member of Association of Hungarian Journalist in Romania;
Ilona Móricz, Director of the Center for Independent Journalism in Hungary.

The topic of the afternoon panel was: Regional Presence of Media Ethics: What problems/obstacles are pervasive in Investigative Journalism, Media Policies? Which are similar in each country, and which are the greatest disparities?

Our panelists:
Balázs Weyer, Editor of Origo
Zuzana Krútka, Vice Chairman of the Syndicat of Slovak Journalists
Péter Molnár, CMCS at CEU
Sasa Lekovic, Director of the Investigative Journalism Center, Zagreb
Beata Balogová, The Slovak Spectator

The Forum

The CIME Forum is structured as an open Dialogue, meaning that each participant is encouraged to express their opinions, pose questions to the panelists and get involved in the general discussion surrounding Media Ethics. We have got great comments and questions at the Forum in Budapest from both practising journalists and journalism students. The participants could witness interesting debates and discussions from the panelists who represented the country/region in the media ethics conference.

CIME Forum Write-UP
20 January 2011, Maia Lazar
The Hungarian media law was discussed initially in the first panel session but the focus broadened onto the issues of self-regulation, significance of ethics codes, and journalism training.
Oliver Vujovic, Secretary General of SEEMO posed interesting questions as the moderator of the morning panel and directed the session ably without taking too much control.
Adam Lebor, correspondant of The Times took notice of the recent controversial Hungarian Media Act and the responses of different international entities and the reaction of the Hungarian government for them.
Ilona Móricz, Director of the Center for Independent Journalism in Hungary stated that self-regulation is a tacit agreement among journalists. The Hungarian media community is not united, which is also true for the whole region in general.
Samaruddin Stewart, photojournalist based in Budapest noted that media landscape is changing organizationally and economically. Instead of factual reporting—there is commentary. He compared journalism to advertising—elaborating that different regions have different taste.
György Vajda, of the Association of Hungarian Journalists in Romania, described media ethics as an “everlasting game between honesty and interests.” His Association has made some significant steps towards improving the scope of journalism: their code of ethics might be used to legally defend journalists who were unjustly sued. Additionally, his organization has also supported a journalism college, high school programs and a summer camp.
Balázs Weyer, editor in chief of Origo, argued that there is a need for trust from the readers but there is really a lot of distrust. He also said that the article itself is not subject to attack—but the writer or subject of the article could be attacked—legally.
Beata Balogová, editor in chief of the Slovak Spectator, claimed that the field of investigative journalism and existence of media ethics—together are luxury due to time pressure, poor financial conditions, and inevitable burn-out of journalists. As a result—99% of journalists cover only 1% of what is happening.
Sasa Lekovic, a freelance and investigative journalist and media trainer, added that most journalists do not even know what investigative journalism is. Even mid-career journalists sometimes do not know what it is. He distinguished between two types of media ethics: content-based and ethical behavior of media professionals. He added that he quit his job because of media ethics issues. The young generation is important he added—perhaps because they are easier to train.
Representative of the Syndicat of Slovak Journalists, Zuzana Krútka mentioned an interesting case of undercover reporting where the journalist was not found guilty but the case revealed that legal and moral ethical issues are often not in accordance.
Péter Molnár, a former member of the Hungarian Parliament and local media law scholar, took a civil libertarian stance. He argued that the State should stay away the discussion of free individuals, which would enable self-regulation. He elaborated that post-socialist republics are under state-control and likely to follow EU regulation.
Additionally, the panelists seemed to agree in the second session that a burden of proof on the journalist means that one should not publish anything they cannot prove.

To watch our short video summary please click here: CIME Forum 2011

Background of the panellists

Adam Lebor - British author and journalist, based in Budapest. He is a reporter on Central Europe for The Times and The Economist. He started to work as a foreign correspondent in 1991, covering the collapse of Communism and the Yugoslav wars. He is the author of The Budapest Protocol, eight books and reviews at the Sunday Times, Literary Review and the Jewish Chronicle, the New York Times and Conde Nast Traveler, Dissent, Comment is Free, The First Post and More Intelligent Life.

Balázs Weyer – Founder and Editor in chief of Origo. He is Member of the jury of the For Quality Journalism Prize in Hungary and Member of the Association of the Hungarian Content Providers. He has been columnist and editor at Magyar Narancs, Vasárnapi Hírek and RTL Klub. Mr. Weyer has acted as the Vice President of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, Member of the Advisory Board of Tilos Cultural Foundation and the Organisation of Free Radios in Hungary as well as Member of the Selection Committee of the Önszabályozó Reklámtestület.

Beata Balogová – The first Slovak editor-in-chief of Slovakia’s English-language weekly, The Slovak Spectator. Ms. Balogová covers business and politics and writes editorials. Prior to joining The Slovak Spectator, Ms. Balogová worked for Slovakia’s first private newswire, SITA, and the state newswire, TASR. Ms. Balogová was a Fulbright scholar appointed to the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri Columbia in 1994.

György Vajda – Board member and regional representative of the Association of Hungarian Journalists in Romania (MÚRE). He has been working for the Népújság daily since 1990 both as editor and photo reporter. In 1997 he was awarded the MÚRE ’Par’ Award. He teaches at the media faculty of the Bolyai Farkas High-school and in several vocational educational institutions. He is the creator and organiser of the annual and only international ecological adventure contest, the Carpatian Adventure in Romania.

Ilona Móricz – Director of the Center for Independent Journalism, Hungary. A journalist by profession, she started her career as a reporter at the Hungarian News Agency (MTI) in 1977. She worked later as editor of the international news department. In 1991 she moved for Kurír, the first privately owned political daily newspaper in Hungary. She worked as an editor for the international news department, and from 1995 as the head of the feature section. In 2006 she was elected President of the South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM).

Oliver Vujovic - Secretary General of the South East Europe Media Organisation - International Press Institute affiliate. He has been Advisor and Director for the Balkan Südosteuropäischer Dialog magazine. Mr. Vujovic founded the Balkan Point - Independent SEE Research and News Service. He has been freelancer in South East Europe for media in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Macedonia, Switzerland, Scandinavian countries and UK.

Péter Molnár - Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Media and Communication Studies at Central European University. He was a leading participant in the transition to democracy at the end of the communist dictatorship. As member of the Hungarian Parliament (1990-1998) he was a principal drafter of the 1996 Hungarian media law as well as numerous other laws on media and cultural policy. He has been member of the Hungarian Radio-Television Board`s Complaint Commission since 2001, and a legislative advisor since 2002. In 2007, the staged version of his novel, Searchers, won the awards for best alternative and best independent play in Hungary.

Samaruddin Stewart - is a media professional presently based in Budapest, Hungary. He was the Principal Photography Editor for AOL, the leading global ad-supported internet company, a division of Time Warner. Mr. Samaruddin has worked as a photography editor, photographer and multimedia specialist. He is an active member of the National Press Photographers’ Association, the White House News Photographers’ Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Online News Association.

Sasa Lekovic - Journalist for 30 years, internationally authorized Investigative Reporting Trainer and Media Consultant. Mr. Lekovic is Director of Investigative Journalism Center (IJC) based in Zagreb; Regional Committee member of SCOOP (Network for helping investigative reporters in East and South East Europe); Guest Lecturer in Investigative Reporting at the Media and Communications Faculty of Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia. He is co-founder and trainer in Media Training Center at FMC (FMC, IJC Belgrade, IJC Zagreb).

Dr. Zuzana Krútka - Chairwoman of the Slovak Syndicate of Journalists (SSN). She is external teacher of the media policy in the Public Policies Institute of the Comenius University in Bratislava. Ms. Krútka has been reporter and editor in chief of Slovenska and as freelance journalist working for the French language edition of the Radio Slovakia International, monthly magazine Zdravie (Health) and magazine Moje generace (My generation) published in Prague.

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