[WSIS CS-Plenary] Summit CS Media guidelines for comment

[Robert Guerra]

Tracey:

If someone in CS is to perform this role, I would agree it would be  
almost 100% full time. Thus, if they are involved in this - it is  
likely they won't be able to enjoy and/or participate in the summit  
as a whole. To complicate things, with no funding it will a difficult  
challenge.


If you weren't doing anything else at the summit, then i'd say - yes   
you'd be a good person, but i think you'll be busy ... Thus, either  
you get one person to do this full time, or have a team of some sort  
do it. My opinion is that a "team" approach would be best. That way,  
the task isn't too burdensome for one specific person.

Having heard Francine's comments, my recommendation would be to have  
either Philippe or Alejandra from CONGO at WSIS be involved. Funding has  
been obtained for them to organize/co-ordinate civil society @ WSIS,  
and as such - nothing more important than this press role.

How the CS press team could work, and who would be the designated  
"media relations officer" - well, is the tricky question. It's a big  
responsibility, one with in fact much power...So, the choice has to  
be a neutral one  - the reason i'm suggesting philippe and/or  
Alejandra..

As for the a comment on the last paragraph , that of WSIS in Tunisia,  
or a summit on Tunisia...well, it all depends on the host country.  
For some time the choice has been clear, be true to the Geneva   
principles of  freedom of expression and movement  and Human Rights.  
If not, the consequences are clear - the media focus will be on  
bridging not the digital divide, but the human rights divide that  
exists....I will say no more...



regards,

Robert

--
Robert Guerra <rguerra at privaterra.org>
Managing Director, Privaterra <http://www.privaterra.org>





On 15-Oct-05, at 4:11 PM, Tracey Naughton wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I have received the guidelines for press events, and proposed  
> operations plan for civil society media liaison from Francine  
> Lambert at the ITU. Here they are for comment.
>
> Tracey Naughton
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> -------------------------------------------------
> 15 October 2005 8:26:19 PM:
>
> Dear Tracey,
>
> Many thanks for your response. The function of the person is called  
> "Media Relations Officer". This is important because the Media  
> Relations Officer has special access rights and privileges on  
> behalf of a group. Let me confirm how I see things:
> the generally agreed code of conduct for journalists as well as the  
> standard UN rules should be what guide civil society in what they  
> can do, say and raise. Essentially this means that the purpose of  
> the press event should be relevant to the Summit’s agenda and  
> objectives, should be consistent with the principles found in the  
> Declaration of Principles of the first phase of the Summit, not  
> contain material which the authors know or could reasonably be  
> expected to know is false, or for which they have failed to take  
> reasonable steps to check the accuracy of their information. While  
> it is understood that all accredited entities have the right to  
> circulate viewpoints, critical comments cannot be defamatory.  They  
> should present comment honestly and fairly and must make facts and  
> opinions clearly distinguishable, should not misrepresent or  
> suppress relevant facts and should not distort facts. What this  
> means in practice will be a judgement call from the Media Relations  
> Officer.
> Civil society press conferences in the Media Centre can either be  
> one slot of 45 minutes or two slots of 20 minutes daily. If two  
> slots are chosen, they should be back-to-back but the entity,  
> speakers and topics can be different. The Media Relations Officer  
> books the press events directly through the Web after consultation  
> with his/her constituencies to decide who/what.
> The way that meetings with the press are organized in the Civil  
> Society Pavilion (what Sanjay called open area but in fact it is  
> closed) is up to you, provided the agreed guidelines are also  
> adhered to. I think there is one maybe two meeting rooms in your  
> Pavilion which could also be used for press meetings. Please check  
> the layout of your Pavilion to find out how you may wish to organize.
> For distribution of material in the Media Centre, we will provide  
> the Media Relations Officer with 20 Media Centre Overpasses. These  
> will be managed by the Media Relations Officer. As they are not  
> nominative, they can be used by various people as the Media  
> Relations Officer sees fit. These Overpasses give access to all  
> areas of the Media Centre except the Working Press Room which is  
> exclusively accessible by accredited media. These Overpasses can be  
> used to access the press conference rooms, distribute documents to  
> the media via the Documentation Service, meet journalists, etc.
> The Media Relations Officer is also responsible for ensuring that  
> CS documentation is compliant with the Document distribution  
> policy. This policy, applicable to all WSIS paraticipants, will be  
> on the web this week. We'll send you the link as soon as it is  
> posted. The link will also be included in the E-Flash going out  
> this week. So it will be known by all well ahead of the Summit. It  
> should be stressed that the purpose of this policy is to ensure  
> that all documents that meet the usual requirements for  
> distribution at UN meetings and summits will remain available in  
> the various areas foreseen for distribution. In Geneva, documents  
> were vanishing from the distribution points for reasons unrelated  
> to availability of stocks and we want to make sure, as far as we  
> possibly can, that this does not happen in Tunis. While some civil  
> society might perceive this policy as a way to curtail their  
> freedom of expression, it should be made very clear to them that  
> this is, in fact, in their best interest. It will also send a  
> signal to delegations that as long as documents are consistent with  
> the policy, political pressure will not prevail.
> Based on the feedback from the person who was doing this work in  
> 2003, this is a full time job. I would therefore be cautious about  
> your doing too many things at a time. If necessary, you act as the  
> Media Relations Officer and delegate your authority to someone else  
> who would act on your behalf. But this means you should have full  
> confidence in that person as officially, it would be you.  
> Alternatively, you could find a Media Relations Officer to whom you  
> would provide support, guidance etc based on your time availability  
> or whenever delicate situations arise.
> On your second point, the matter at PrepCom-3 was different because  
> the Press Conference was booked by ITU and was considered by the UN  
> Information Service as an ITU-sponsored event and announced as such  
> to media. In Tunisia however, the Media Relations Office book press  
> events and take responsibility. That said, making WSIS a Summit on  
> Tunisia instead of in Tunisia is in my view missing the point. Do  
> you really believe that negative media coverage (no matter how  
> much) will have any serious impact on the situation of human rights  
> in Tunisia? On the other hand, the media would be focusing on this  
> single issue and would disregard the rest of what WSIS is trying to  
> achieve. To me it would be losing on a unique opportunity to get  
> ICT for development at the top of the world's public agenda (the  
> main purpose of the second phase) and therefore deprive millions of  
> men and women of the hope that their living condition can improve.  
> But again, this is up to the collective wisdom of Civil Society. I  
> believe that the Media Caucus should defend the freedom of  
> expression all over the world and not only in Tunisia.
>
> Hope I have answered all of your questions. Let me know if you need  
> anything else. Time is running as no press activities can be  
> undertaken by civil society until the Media Relations Officer is in  
> place to coordinate and interface with the Media Service.
>
>
> Tracey Naughton
> Communication for Development Consultant
> (to November 9th)
> Pact Mongolia Office
> Peace Avenue 24
> Ulaan Bataar
> Mongolia
> Tel:                   +976 11 46 09 01
> Mobile:             +976 9989 6965
> Fax:                  +976 11 46 10 48
> Skype: tracey_naughton
> Email: tracey at traceynaughton.com
>
>
>
>

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