[WSIS CS-Plenary] demand CIVIL SOCIETY access to EU "TV without frontiers directives" review!

[Gabi Hadl]

(Please circulate this to relevant groups)
To EU- based civil society groups and organizations :

The "TV without frontiers directives" is being reviewed.
CIVIL SOCIETY  input is essential, so the policy does not end up benefiting
only the media industry and has little social and civic value.

Right now the organizer, the UK, only invites policy makers and 'experts' to
participate. But some groups are demanding they facilitate civil society
participation. Please join them. Endorse the letter below or write the UK
secretary of state directly.

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The conference this refers to is to be held in Liverpool, Sept 20-22
http://www.eu2005.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPag
e&c=Page&cid=1107293391098&a=Karticle&aid=1115136925952
(note it overlaps with WSIS Preperatory Conference 3--
http://www.itu.int/wsis/preparatory2/pc3/index.html )

The directive under discussion is:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/regul/twf/newint_en.htm

The online consultation:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/revision-tvwf2005/consult_en.htm
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> From: Steve Buckley <sbuckley at gn.apc.org>
> Dear all
> 
> The UK voluntary sector coalition on communications reform, Public Voice,
> has drafted a letter calling for the British government to support NGO
> participation at the forthcoming European Union conference (20-22
> September, Liverpool) on the review of the Television Without Frontiers
> directive. The letter also calls for support for an NGO forum to be held on
> the day preceding the EU conference. If your organisation covers some or
> all of the European Union, supports this initiative and is prepared to be
> included in the list of supporting NGOs, please write to Don Redding,
> Coordinator of Public Voice, confirming your support. To sign on, send an
> email to Don at <dredding at ntlworld.com> with the name, title and
> organisation of the person signing.
> 
> The final detail of the text may still be subject to change, but the main
> messages will not. If you have a burning concern on the text please include
> that in the email so that it can be taken into account.
> 
> If you have time, please also write directly, along similar lines, to:
> 
> Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP
> Secretary of State
> Department for Culture, Media and Sport
> 2-4 Cockspur Street
> London SW1Y 5DH
> 
> If you have the possibility to attend the conference, I recommend to also
> request an invitation.
> 
> Steve Buckley

-----------
LETTER TEXT for endorsement:
( To sign on, send an email to Don at <dredding at ntlworld.com> with the name,
title and organisation of the person signing.)
----------
The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP
Secretary of State
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
3-5 Cockspur St
London
SW1

 

[Dear Ms Jowell]

 

                                    Civil Society participation in the
Liverpool Broadcasting Conference

 

                             As this is our first communication with you
since the general election may we first of all welcome your return to the
department, and congratulate you on the successful bid for the 2012
Olympics.

 

We are writing now not just as Public Voice but as a wider group of leading
civil society organisations concerned with broadcasting and communications
policy in the UK and Europe, respectfully to urge you to support civil
society participation in and around the Liverpool Broadcasting Conference in
September.

 

Civil society organisations are key stakeholders in communications policy
and regulation, and can play a significant role in raising and representing
citizens¹ interests with regard to communications, and ensuring these are
kept properly in the balance with the interests of other stakeholders such
as governments, institutions, industry and consumers.

 

We are grateful for the way in which you have listened to and supported
civil society organisations to play these roles during the passage of the
Communications Act 2003, and in subsequent processes such as BBC Charter
review. We ask you now to extend that approach to the UK Presidency of the
EU, its leadership of the culture ministers, and in particular to the
revision of the Television Without Frontiers directive.

 

There are two specific ways in which you could support NGOs around the
Liverpool conference. The first is to ensure that UK and European NGOs are
invited to the conference proper. Only a very few have so far been included.

 

The second would be for your department to sponsor an NGO Forum to take
place in Liverpool on the preceding day, Monday 19th September 2005.
Following precedents such as that at the Council of Europe-organised Kiev
meeting in March 2005 of mass media ministers, the NGO Forum would seek to
produce a joint statement that would formally feed into the official
conference deliberations.

 

These actions would be consistent with the multi-stakeholder approach that
has been used for the World Summit on the Information Society and other
international processes such as the revision of the UNESCO Declaration on
Cultural Diversity. They would reflect the UK¹s commitment to wide
consultation and would be a welcome and innovative feature of the
Presidency.

 

We are hoping that by the time this letter reaches you the Public Voice
co-ordinator will have met your adviser Roger Sharp to discuss these issues
in more detail.

 

We look forward to a timely and positive reply to these concerns.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Don Redding, co-ordinator, Public Voice and on behalf of:





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G abi H adl
Ritsumeikan Civil Society Media Research Group
http://homepage.mac.com/ellenycx/RitsCSM/
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