President’s media commission move hailed overseas
30.09.2009
The move by President James Michel to launch the Seychelles Media Commission was hailed by editors from the region when they visited the UK’s Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in London.
They unanimously agreed that it was a commendable initiative, describing it as a positive step towards the development of the media in Seychelles.
George Thande from Seychelles Nation reports that the editors gave their comments after the PCC’s director for public affairs William Gore explained how their commission protects the public and the media.
Mr Gore was speaking on Monday during a seminar at the commission’s Halton House headquarters where the PCC members meet.
Apart from Mr Thande, the other editors who attended the seminar were from Mauritius, Angola, Malawi, Gambia, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Uganda and Zambia.
Their visit to the UK has been organised and sponsored by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
“We operate under our own code of practice, which allows us to do our own self-regulation,” said Mr Gore.
“If we did not exist, then the government would have to set up its own media control body and an aggrieved public would have to take its complaints to court, which is not good so the media fund this commission.”
He told the editors the commission is made up of 17 members, seven of whom are editors while the rest are not journalists.
“We have a higher proportion of members who are not from the media industry so the public cannot say we are here to protect only the interests of the media,” he said.
He said the commission was formed after the death in Paris of Princess Diana, which many blamed on photographers who chased her car at high speed, causing it to crash.
“We receive complaints in writing, and if the paper concerned seems to have broken our code and does not apologise we investigate. If our ruling is not in favour of the newspaper, it is forced to publish our ruling in full,” added Mr Gore.
The editors also held meetings with directors at the Commonwealth Secretariat and talked about economic and climate change issues.
Edwin Laurent, who heads the international trade section, talked about Commonwealth efforts to renegotiate member countries’ debts which were unveiled at a meeting attended recently by principal secretary for finance Ahmed Afif and Central Bank governor Pierre Laporte.
Economic adviser Janet Strachan said plans are being prepared worldwide for the eventual mass migration to countries like Australia of people from small island nations threatened by sea level rise.
The editors also met Seychellois Selby Pillay, who works at the Commonwealth Secretariat.
And they held talks with directors of Article 19, which champions media freedom, and the heads of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House, where leaders and others can talk to the world under guaranteed anonymity.