International journalists groups to work with Muslim media to ease cartoon crisis

The International Federation of Journalists hosted a meeting in Brussels on February 15, 2006 at which media professionals discussed the publication in Denmark and elsewhere of cartoons which have caused regrettable offence to many people in Europe and around the world. The following statement was agreed:

1. While all professional groups understand well the need to consider cultural and religious feelings at all times in the exercise of journalism, they are united in their condemnation of the violence, intimidation, deaths and death threats that have accompanied some protests over the publication and republication of these cartoons.
2. The meeting reaffirms, without compromise, that freedom of expression and opinion is a fundamental and core value of democracy and human rights that should not be subject to any undue restraint.
3. The meeting believes that all media, on all sides, must act professionally in dealing with religious and cultural issues and rights of minorities, and should not do anything that would create unnecessary tension by promoting hatred or inciting violence.
4. At the same time, the meeting is unanimous in the view that the ethical and professional duties of journalism are the sole responsibility of journalists and other media professional in the free exercise of their work.
5. The meeting does not accept that new supranational codes of conduct or other guidelines or new laws are needed. Existing voluntary codes, some of them in force for more than 50 years, serve journalism well.
6. The meeting welcomes efforts to promote dialogue and to raise awareness among journalists and media on all sides about the need for ethical and responsible practice.
7. The participants agree to promote cooperation within and between professional groups and welcomes initiatives to promote dialogue among journalists from different cultural traditions.
8. The aim of such cooperation should be to strengthen media quality and to raise awareness among journalists of the need for informed reporting in context when dealing with inter-cultural and religious matters.

Finally, the participants agree to coordinate their efforts in the coming months and request the IFJ to call further meetings of media professional groups to discuss these issues at both regional and international level; they also call on representative media professional groups from the Arab and Muslim world to participate in this process.

This statement is issued in the name of the Association of Commercial Television (ACT), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the European Federation of Magazine Publishers (FAEP), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the International Press Institute (IPI).

Other non-signatory participants at the meeting included representatives of the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, the Danish Union of Journalists European, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance of the Council of Europe (ECRI), the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), the European Newspaper Publishers' Association, the International Media Support, the World Editors Forum of World Association of Newspapers, UNESCO and leading international correspondents from the Brussels press corps.