Comunicazioni WCRP.2
“MEDIA AND TRUTH. AN INTERRELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE ON ETHICAL REPORTING - POSSIBILITIES AND OBSTACLES”
International
Conference (simultaneous
translation)
PROGRAM
Rome, Campidoglio
Monday, Feb. 17, 2003 10:00-13:30
15:30-18:30 Sala Gonzaga,
P.zza della Consolazione 4
Tuesday,
Feb. 18, 2003 10:00-13:30
15:30-19:30 Sala Protomoteca
At
this moment of great world tensions, American, Arab, Israeli, Palestinian,
Italian, European, international media people and experts of different faiths as
well as non-believers are meeting in Rome to discuss the responsibilities and
ethics of reporting.
The power
of media to shape reality is great. We learn of international events through the
media, and make moral and political judgments based on the information received.
Willingly or not, media people are thus saddled with a responsibility
commensurate to this power.
International
media coverage of Muslim and Arab societies has produced Islamophobia.
Correspondence from the Middle East has enflamed the cinders of
anti-Semitism worldwide.
How
can media stop producing stereotypes of nations, religions, and the parts in
conflict? How can media convey the deeper truths behind screaming headlines?
How can media work for peace?
Arab, American, Israeli, Palestinian, Italian,
European, international, multi-religious media representatives will debate these
vital contemporary issues as part of an ongoing
process aimed at better communication between the media and religious
communities.
Focus will be on
-
Unpopular news and forgotten crisis areas
-
Media coverage of the Arab and Islamic world and consequent Islamophobia
-
Media coverage of the Middle East and consequent anti-Semitism
This conference was conceived and organized by
WCRP/Europe,
“Religions for Peace”,
the European Section of the World
Conference of Religions
for
Peace
Conference and Program Director, Lisa
Palmieri-Billig, Vice
Moderator
WCRP is an NGO spread out over the 5 continents in
over 100 countries including 11 European nations, which has consultative status
at the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSCO) and observer status at the UN
and UNESCO. WCRP recently created a European Interreligious Co-ordinating
Council of leaders of the world’s major religions.
in co-operation with
The
Mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni
his
Delegate for Interethnic Affairs, Franca Eckert Coen
his
Delegate for International Affairs, Minister Marco
Baccin
his
Delegate for Rome’s Peace Office in Jerusalem, Franco
La Torre
with the contribution of
The
Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs
- The Austrian Embassy to the Holy See
- The Austrian Cultural Forum in Rome
The
Graz Peace Centre and the City of Graz (2003 Cultural
Capital of Europe) which, together
with the City of Sarajevo and in concomitance with WCRP’s European Assembly
will hold a pan-European conference in Graz next July 5th
to 9th entitled “Project; Interfaith Europe”. The results
of the Rome “Media and Truth” Conference will be reported there.
The
Foreign Press Association in Rome (Associazione della Stampa Estera)
The
Roman Press Association (Associazione della Stampa Romana)
Confraternity
of San Giovanni dei Genovesi
_______________________________________________________________
PROGRAM
and PARTICIPANTS (tentative - to be confirmed )
Monday,
February 17
10:00 Welcome
and Greetings
Moderator: Franca Eckert Coen, (Mayor’s Delegate for
Interethnic Affairs)
Walter Veltroni, (Mayor of Rome)
Jehangir Sarosh, (President of WCRP/Europe)
Camillo Reynaud Bersanino, (Secretary General of
WCRP/Italy)
Reading of messages, etc. by Moderator
10:30 TODAY’S
MEDIA RESPONSIBILITIES
Lisa Palmieri-Billig, (Vice Moderator WCRP/Europe)
- “Introduction to the Seminar: aims and contents ”
Prof. Robert White (Media division, Social Science
Dep’t, Pontifical Gregorian University) - “The Ideological Filter: a
block to cultural dialogue”
Sergio
Tripi (Managing editor of weekly “Good News Agency”, President of GNA
Cultural Association) Towards a Universal Code of Media Ethics
Alessandra Paradisi (Chairperson, Council of
Europe’s Steering Committee on Mass Media) –
“Media and Terrorism. Freedom
of Expression and Security: behind
the Conflict”
Myrna Shinbaum
(Director of Media Relations & Public Information and Spokesperson
for the Anti-Defamation League, New York) – “Anti-Semitism in
International Media”
Prof. Annamaria Rivera (University of Bari, Chair
of Ethnology, Dept. of Historical
and Social Sciences) “Islamophobia
in International Media”
12:00 THE CHALLENGE (LA
SFIDA): TO SHATTER STEREOTYPES
Moderator: ERIC JOSZEF,
correspondent of “Liberation” – Paris, President Foreign Press Club
of Rome
(Speakers will
present an idea, a thesis. The
challenger will then play “the devil’s advocate”, followed by questions,
remarks from invited religious representatives and journalists in front rows.)
1.
“EUROPEANIZING
ISLAM VS. ISLAMIZING EUROPE: a vision” (15 minutes)
Mohamed Mzoughi, (Professor of Islamic Philosophy at Pontifical Institute
for Arab and Islamic Studies (PISAI))
Challenger:
Justo lacunza-Balda (Dean,
PISAI) (15 minutes)
Audience
(15 minutes)
2. “CRITICIZING
ISRAEL - ANTI-ZIONISM -
ANTI-SEMITISM: defining the borderlines” (20
minutes)
Sefy Henndler (Paris correspondent for “Maariv”, Israel)
Yossi Klein Halevi (editorialist, “The Jerusalem
Post”, Israel)
Challenger: Guiglielmo Sasinini (Middle East
correspondent, “Famiglia Cristiana”)
and
audience (25 minutes)
13:30 BREAK
15:30 - 1700
International
Panel on MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE ISLAMIC AND ARAB WORLD
Moderator: Erich Kusch (Rome correspondent
“Handelsblatt” & “General Anzeiger” Germany
Prof.
Adel Jabbar (Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Dep’t of Sociology,
Intercultural Processes
Samir Al Qaryouti
- editorialist “Al Jazeera”, Rome correspondent “MEBC” – Dubai,
and “Voice of Palestine Radio-TV”
Lutfullah Goktas
- (NTV-Turkey, Rome Bureau
Chief)
Mouddar Khouja
- (Personal Advisor to President of Austrian Islamic Community)
Amara Lakhous, (Algerian author)
INTERNATIONAL
Austria - Christian Rathner (ORF TV, Vienna,Austria)
17:00 – 18:30 International
Panel on MEDIA AND ISLAMOPHOBIA, AND XENOPHOBIA AGAINST ARABS
The
following people will join the above panel:
Mustafa Ayubi – (“Confronti” monthly, Islam
and Arab world specialist)
Zeynet Cereci (researcher, Pontifical Gregorian University) – “Islamophobia:
results of a 4 – week sampling of Italian and English language dailies”
Sylvia
Poggioli, (“National Public Radio” Washington, USA)
Prof.
Annamaria Rivera (University of Bari, Chair of Ethnology, Dep’t of Historical
and Social Sciences)
followed by questions
and comments from European religious leaders and international media people
seated in front rows.
Tuesday,
February 18
UNPOPULAR
NEWS AND FORGOTTEN CRISIS AREAS
Moderator (to be
announced)
10:00 (Part I “Religion
in the media”)
Moderator: Introduction to
theme
`
-
Christian Rathner, Religious News, ORF-Austrian TV “How to get
audiences for Religious News
-
John Allen, “National Catholic Reporter” – U.S. “Religious
and ethnic diversity in Arab countries, religious minorities in Islamic
countries
-
David Willey (BBC
International, Rome and Vatican correspondent “Covering Interreligious
Events in a Secular world”
-
Hiroshi Miyahira (Risho Kossei Kai Shimbun, Japan)
“Buddhism in the Media”
-
Lucia Ricco (journalist, National Secretary of the Italian Baha’i
Association, member Executive Council WCRP/Italy) “Baha’i Communities and
Freedom of Religion”
-
Paolo Naso – (Managing
Editor, “Confronti” and “Protestantesimo – RAI TV)
Self-Definition of the Other
-
Jangos Andreadis –President, Communication Sciences Department,
Pantheon University, Athens;Vice president Forum on Religions and Cultures,
Cyprus – “Interreligious Dialogue in Cyprus”
11:45 (Part II - “Forgotten Crises”)
Moderator: Introduction to theme
-
Mato Zovkic (Vicar General
of Sarajevo Archdiocese and WCRP/Europe Executive Committee member) “Bosnia
Today”
-
Maarten van Aalderen, (Mediterranean correspondent for “De Telegraaf”,Holland)
“Cyprus”
-
Massimo Picchianti – (Italian journalist, specialist in Russian and
East European Affairs) “Minorities
in the former Soviet Union
-
Luigi Sandri - (author,
correspondent, “Ecumenical News International” Geneva) “The World of
Orthodox Christianity in Eastern Europe”
13:00 -
Questions and remarks from international press and religious
representatives in front rows.
13:30 BREAK
15:30 – International
Panel on MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Moderator:
Paolo Naso, (Italian, Editor in Chief of the periodical, “Confronti”
and “Protestantesimo” on RAI-TV)
ISRAELI
AND PALESTINIAN MEDIA:
Yossi Klein Halevi (Israeli
“The Jerusalem Post”)
Hanna Siniora (Palestinian “The Jerusalem Times”)
Sefi
Henndler (Israeli “Maariv” Paris correspondent)
Ramahi
Sufyan (Palestinian “Voice of Palestine” Paris correspondent)
INTERNATIONAL
PRESS:
Austria -
Heinz Nussbaumer - (independent
journalist, former spokesman
of Austrian President, Middle East specialist)
Spain -
Ahmad Rafat (Chief of Rome and Middle East bureau for “Il Tiempo”
17:00 - International
Panel on “MIDDLE EAST COVERAGE AND ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE”
USA - Myrna Shinbaum (Anti-Defamation League
Spokesperson, and Media Relations
and Public Information Director, New York)
Austria
and Germany - Marta Halpert (Vienna correspondent for “Focus Magazine”,
Munich)
Italy - Adriana Goldstaub ( Director Archives on
Prejudice and Anti-Semitism, Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center, Milan…Responsabile
archivio del pregiudizio e dell’antisemitismo del Centro di Documentazione
Ebraico Contemporaneo, Milano)
will
join the panel, followed by
Questions, remarks, challenges from international
religious and media representatives in front rows.
18:30 Summing-up
and follow-up with Future Projects
Franca Eckert Coen, Harald Baloch (Program Director of Graz 2003,
Cultural Capital of Europe Assembly “Project: Interfaith Europe”), Walter
Greinert, Austrian ambassador to the Holy See; Lisa Palmieri-Billig
19:30 END
Conference and program director - Lisa Palmieri-Billig
Tel/Fax: (39)-065376121
Cell: (39) 339-3477077
E-mail: LisaBillig@libero.it
Press Office - Paolo Siviero - Cell: (39)
335-6407037
E-mail: oriente@cadr.it
Organization and accommodations - Silvio Daneo, Cell:
(39) 347-4479503
E-mail: da.silvio@tiscali.it