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OSCE to Assist Journalists of South Caucasus Countries in Self-Regulation of Press

Society Materials 11 October 2007 14:17 (UTC +04:00)
OSCE to Assist Journalists of  South Caucasus Countries in Self-Regulation of Press

Georgia, Tbilisi /special corr. Trend E.Huseynov / Despite that the Codes of Conduct and Ethics of journalists have been adopted in many OSCE countries, the issue of adopting a single code for all OSCE participating countries is on agenda. It is significant part of the self-regulation of the press, said the OSCE representative, Alexander Boldirev, on 11 October in Tbilisi at the conference of journalists of the South Caucasus countries.

According to Boldirev, the self-regulation system is in existence in the South Caucasus countries - a Press Council was established in Azerbaijan in 2003, Mass Media Council of Georgia in 2005 and Armenian Mass Media Observatory in 2007.

"Despite that the self-regulation systems in these countries already begin to strengthen, the discussions are intensifying with regards to their future efficiency. The improvement of the newly established self-regulation mechanisms is still of importance. Assessing the demands to make changes to these mechanisms will assist in improving common situation with freedom of press in South Caucasus," Boldirev said.

The influence on contents of the journalistic materials without outer interference is under responsibility of editors and may be guaranteed by the system of self-regulation, the expert added. According to him, such mechanisms require voluntarily following general regulations propelling high standards and professional maturity.

The fourth South Caucasus press conference brings together nearly 50 journalists and experts for two days. Supported by the OSCE, the conference focuses on the self-regulation of the press in the region. During the meeting, speeches are envisaged by the experts from Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia, France, as well as from region countries.

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