Free trade needs free media too: Int'l symposium

By Ati Nurbaiti

VANCOUVER, Canada (JP): An international gathering on the media concluded here Wednesday that improved trade relations within the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum would be impossible to bring about without a free media.

"A freer and more balanced media is essential to improved trade relations within APEC and therefore should be formally incorporated into the official agenda for the upcoming APEC forum," said organizer Gordon Floyd of the Canada-based Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society.

The one-day symposium, titled "Open Media, Open Market" and attended by about 100 journalists and academics, proposed that APEC leaders "recognize that freedom of expression and association are conditions for the expansion of trade".

As a body, APEC should "commission an independent study ... on the relationship between the free flow of information and trade liberalization," the participants said in a statement.

"It would be in the direct interest of business groups, for instance, to have full access to information on potential investment interests," the statement said.

The symposium also demanded that APEC make all its documents available to the media.

Organizers said the agenda of the fifth APEC meeting, which is to be capped off by a heads of states meeting, termed "economic leaders", here from Nov. 25 to Nov. 26, has largely been kept secret for security reasons.

The symposium's statement also said a dialog should begin with the APEC Business Advisory Council, chaired by host Canada, about the relationship between free markets and a free media, "especially the role of the media in exposing corruption".

Floyd said the proposals would be forwarded to Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy, who would be "urged to discuss these proposals with his colleagues from member economies".

APEC, since its first meeting in Seattle, USA, in 1992, has resisted demands that non-trade issues such as human rights be placed on its agenda. APEC maintains it is a forum aiming for trade liberalization based on "voluntary, unilateral" deregulation measures by each of its 18 members.

To attract attention to non-trade issues, non-governmental organizations have organized a "People's Summit" parallel to APEC meetings since its third gathering in Osaka, Japan.

East Timor

The symposium on the media was one of 17 talks before and after the formal opening of the People's Summit at the Plaza of Nations. East Timor separatist leader and Nobel laureate Jos Ramos-Horta addressed the formal opening Wednesday.

A concert, street theater, rally and march are also scheduled. Events scheduled for Nov. 20 include a special session on East Timor and a "public tribunal" on labor rights presenting, among others, the detention of labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan.

The media symposium also raised the need for APEC members to formally address the issue of freedom of expression and the free flow of information via the Internet.

"Many APEC nations have censored or are attempting to restrict Internet usage and contents," said a joint letter signed by dozens of participants.

After the symposium, Indonesian journalist Ahmad Taufik who was released from his two-year prison term in July this year, was presented with an award from the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists.

Participants and speakers sharing experiences came from various countries, including Mexico, China and Indonesia. Participants were curious about the notorious "envelope culture", referring to the bribery of Indonesian journalists.

Discussions attempting to seek models of a free media, and how they could apply to the Asia-Pacific region, ended without any success.

Canadians said their media was largely influenced by private ownership, and Japanese Yayori Matsui said Japanese journalists, despite being free from government control, do not reflect critical journalism and "promote their self-interest".

Participants were divided on how much to expect from governments. Kavi Chongkittavorn, the executive editor of Bangkok's The Nation, said Thais have little trust in governments.

Frances d'Souza of the London-based Article 19, an organization monitoring freedom of expression, said the ratification of United Nations conventions, which refers to freedom of expression, is legally binding for countries.

But she said this does not mean much to those working in the media in certain countries.