Remarks at closing ceremony of International Press Institute World Congress, Edinburgh
Tuesday 30 May 2006
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Journalists are driven by two instincts. One noble. One less so.
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The noble instinct is, come what may, to report the truth. The less noble is - come what may - to report the story first.
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Journalists are by nature competitive. It's a long time since I was a working journalist, but I still remember the sense that a journalist is not a proper journalist without that deep desire to beat the other guy to the story.
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And that's how it should be. There's nothing wrong with journalists being competitive.
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Competition keeps journalists sharp. It counters reporters' tendency to hunt in packs. Competition is good for journalism and good for their audiences.
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But there are times when journalists need to set their competitive instincts aside.
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Times when they need to come together as a global industry. Times – and now is one of them - when they need to take a stand and show some solidarity.
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Solidarity is a bit of an unfashionable word. But solidarity is what is needed now. Solidarity with journalists under threat around the globe.
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One of the most shocking things on the internet can be found on the IPI's own website. Up there on the top right of the home-page – the box headed 'IPI Death Watch'.
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As you know, it records the number of journalists killed. Sixteen so far this year.
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And that's before the deaths of James Brolan and Paul Douglas in Iraq at the weekend.
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Sixty five killed last year. Seventy eight the year before that. Well over five hundred in the last ten years.
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These are appalling figures.
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Many were killed in combat zones, brave men and women putting themselves in danger to report what's happening on the front line – in Iraq, in Chechnya, in the Balkans and elsewhere.
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In the last few years they've included two ´óÏó´«Ã½ journalists, Kate Peyton, shot dead in Somalia; and Simon Cumbers, shot dead in Saudi Arabia.
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But many of these journalists were not killed because they were in combat zones. They were killed because they were doing what journalists ought to do – to speak truth to power.
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They did so, and power took its revenge.
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Wu Xianghu, deputy editor of a local paper in China, ran a story criticising the city traffic police. They beat him up - so badly that he died in hospital of liver and kidney failure.
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Gustavo Rojas Gabalo, a radio host in Colombia who often reported on government corruption – shot dead at close range by two unidentified killers on a motorbike.
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Subramaniyam Sugitharajah, a newspaper reporter in Sri Lanka, killed by an unidentified gunman after he wrote a story contradicting the official version of how five Tamil students were killed.
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All three journalists died within the last few months. And the dreadful truth is: they will not be the last journalists to be murdered this year.
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And let's be clear. Attacks like these are not just attacks on journalists; they are attacks on the principle of free expression itself.
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And since free expression is one of the cornerstones of democracy, they are attacks on democracy. They cannot be allowed to pass lightly.
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This is the context in which this IPI congress has taken place. It's been the theme of a number of sessions – the mounting threat to free expression posed by the apparent impunity with which inconvenient journalists can be disposed of.
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What can the global media industry do about this?
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There are four things we can do.
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The first is continuing to ensure that safety never becomes a competitive issue.
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The ´óÏó´«Ã½ has regular meetings with its national and international competitors to share its own safety information openly and freely and to learn from the experience of others. This is as it should be.
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The second thing is to ensure that journalists are taught not to take unnecessary risks, and are given the best safety training and the best safety equipment when they are asked to work in dangerous places.
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We have to accept that there is a real financial cost to this.
A third of the cost of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s current Baghdad operation is the cost of the security for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ teams working there.
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Over the last five years the amount ´óÏó´«Ã½ Newsgathering spends on safety has more or less doubled. That's the real cost of protecting ´óÏó´«Ã½ teams in the field.
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The third thing is to ensure that journalists follow the highest professional standards.
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Let's not forget that the IPI was founded to pursue two aims: the freedom of the press, yes. But not only that. The other aim was, and I quote: "the improvement of the practices of journalism".
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A free press and good journalism: the two go hand in hand. A free press is a lot easier to defend when journalists follow the highest professional standards.
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As Chairman of the ´óÏó´«Ã½, one of my key roles is to defend the editorial independence of the ´óÏó´«Ã½. Where ´óÏó´«Ã½ journalism is concerned, my job is to make sure it follows the highest standards of impartiality and accuracy.
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That's a worthwhile aim in itself – but it also underpins the justification for the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s continuing editorial independence.
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It's why I and my fellow ´óÏó´«Ã½ Governors place such a stress on monitoring the output of ´óÏó´«Ã½ News to ensure it meets the high standards it aspires to – and when it does not, to make sure that changes are made to bring it back on track.
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And finally, the media industry can work together to keep the spotlight firmly trained on this issue.
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Those who contemplate violence against journalists must be made aware that they will be held to account.
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And journalists under threat around the globe must be given the comfort of knowing they are not alone, that their profession will support them in any way it can.
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These four things - collaborating on safety; spending what it takes to ensure safety; following the highest professional standards; and keeping the media spotlight on this issue – these four things can make a difference.
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I'm proud that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has been one of the sponsors of this congress – and proud of all the work that ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scotland and its Controller, Ken MacQuarrie, has done to make it such a successful event.
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I'm grateful too, to all the other sponsors from across the media industry who have made this congress possible.
It's a good example of how our industry can set aside its competitive instincts to work together on issues of common concern.
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There can be no more pressing concern for anyone connected with journalism than the threats now faced by journalists around the globe – threats both to them, and through them to the free expression that make democracy possible.
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My hope is that this Congress and all the work that is coming out of it has helped to make those principles a little more secure – and that, by showing solidarity today with journalists under threat, their lives can be made a little safer.
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They deserve it.
