ivory coast: rsf calls for media freedom
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has written to all the delegations taking part in the Ivory Coast peace talks being held in Linas-Marcoussis (south of Paris) between 15 and 24 January 2003, asking them to raise the issue of the media in the Ivory Coast. The organisation urges the political parties and rebel movements present to make a real commitment to establishing a freer and more responsible press in the country.
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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PRESS RELEASE - CÔTE D'IVOIRE
17 January 2003
RSF calls on participants in peace talks to make a commitment to a freer and
more responsible press
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
(RSF/IFEX) - The following is a 16 January 2003 RSF press release:
RSF has written to all the delegations taking part in the Ivory Coast peace
talks being held in Linas-Marcoussis (south of Paris) between 15 and 24
January 2003, asking them to raise the issue of the media in the Ivory
Coast. The organisation urges the political parties and rebel movements
present to make a real commitment to establishing a freer and more
responsible press in the country. They should, in particular, take measures
to ensure the safety of all journalists - Ivorian or foreign - working in
the Ivory Coast. The fact that journalists are regularly arrested, attacked
or threatened is unacceptable.
In addition, politicians and leaders of the rebel movements should encourage
the press to take a more responsible attitude. Failure to respect any
ethical or professional code is rife in the country. A number of
publications have no hesitation in publishing racist or xenophobic articles,
putting the safety of large numbers of people at risk. Le National, L'oeil
du peuple, and the newspaper of the party in power, Notre Voie, are among
such media organs that constantly stoke the flames of conflict by publishing
inflammatory editorials and articles inciting violence.
The Observatoire de la liberté de la presse, de l'éthique et de la
déontologie (OLPED) can no longer content itself with merely publishing
communiqués calling the press to order. This self-regulatory body must be
given real powers to impose sanctions. For example, it should be able to
force offending newspapers to publish any "right of reply" sent to them, in
line with Articles 9, 28, and 29 of the Press Law. OLPED should also be
consulted before the issuing or withdrawal of press cards.
Finally, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI, the party in power) and the
Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI, the rebel movement in the north of
the country) should demand that media under their control scrupulously
respect a professional code of ethics. The state radio and television (RTI)
in Abidjan is a public service and should respect a genuine pluralism of
information by allowing all the political tendencies in the country to
express themselves.
The television channel Notre Patrie and the newspaper Liberté, controlled by
the rebel movements in Bouake, should make sure that the Ivorian population
is correctly informed and should seek to calm the situation.
The press in the Ivory Coast is both a victim of the crisis facing the
country today and partly responsible for it. Since the attempted coup on 19
September 2002, numerous reporters - both Ivorian and foreign - have either
been beaten up by members of the state police force or rebel movements.
Media professionals are arrested, attacked or threatened almost every day.
But the press is also playing a pernicious role in this crisis. "We, Ivorian
journalists, have paved the way for war. We have to take responsibility for
that. With our words of hate, our diatribes, we paved the way for war in the
minds of the Ivorian people," admitted a former editor to Reporters Without
Borders during an investigative mission in October 2002.
For further information, contact Jean-François Julliard at RSF, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.rsf.org
The information contained in this press release is the sole responsibility
of RSF. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
RSF.
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