“Freedom of Expression and National Legislation” Roundtable Dedicated to the International Media Ethics Day (IMED), 2015
2015/11/20
Mongolia joins the IMED in 2015 which was initiated by the Center for International Media Ethics (http://www.cimethics.org).
The round table Freedom of Expression and National Legislation dedicated to the IMED was organized by Globe International Center in cooperation of the Confederation of Mongolian Journalists (CMJ) on November 13, 2015 in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The Round table held at Globe International Center meeting room and gathered 15 journalists, editors and President and Vice President of the CMJ.
Mr. B.Galaarid, CMJ President moderated the round table and Mrs. Kh.Naranjargal, GIC President opened the round table. In her opening remark, she stressed media is for the public and it is public watch dog. In doing their business, media outlets should be responsible to the public. Mongolia should be a part of the global discussions on the media ethics, so we should organize such events every year and discuss the internal media issues. It is good opportunity to remind about our ethical duties to the media practitioners and journalists and raise awareness of the public on media ethic issues.
Bijay Singh, Communications Director- South Asia, Center for Media Ethics welcomed the participants. He told about the CIME initiatives on IMED which was started in 2011 and it is getting to be global.
Two most recent developments initiated by GIC are UPR recommendations and recommendations of the Media assessment report. These two recommendations were introduced to the participants by T.Ayushjav, GIC Media Program Coordinator and Kh.Naranjargal, GIC (MDI).
GIC has submitted the report “Freedoms of Opinion and Expression” the UN UPR in 2014. The UN Human Rights Council discussed the Mongolian national report on May 5, 2015 in Geneva and the Mongolian Government has received the recommendations from 8 countries to harmonize the domestic legislation with the international standards, ensure Internet freedom, provide for legal protection of whistleblowers and journalistic confidential sources.
Media assessment was conducted by the GIC in cooperation with the CMJ, Press Institute and Transparency Fund in 2013-2014 and used the UNESCO Media Development Indicators.
Internet regulation is one of the top issues in Mongolia. Since Mongolia is missing broadcast or electronic media law, broadcast and online media is regulated by the procedures and rules approved by the Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC). These procedures overlap the domestic and international laws and it introduces restrictions and sanctions. Registration of the news and information websites and filtering software are obligatory. Mr.L.Galbaatar, Lawyer was invited to present on the on the domestic legislation concerning Internet.
The following themes were discussed by the round table participants.
- Political and business affiliation affecting quality journalism
- Media owners ignore journalism ethics
- Free information and public health: is it harmful to the country’s economy, if media freely and frequently report on inflectional diseases in the country.
- Difference between professional journalism and citizen journalism?
- No solidarity among journalists and media practitioners
- Some news websites encourage disclosure of IP addresses of their users and publicize they are the only ones which do not libel persons
Mrs. Kh.Naranjargal, GIC has taken a presentation “Online Media and Ethics. International Practices” has taken President and she introduce the best practices of internal rules of BBC and Associated Press and self-regulation bodies of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands an Germany.
The Round table participants stressed on:
- Need to educate media practitioners and journalists on the media law and international standards on FoE
- Need of internal governance and editorial guidelines
- Support a newly- born Media Council
Finally, they concluded: “Mongolia should be a part of the global discussions on the media ethics, so we should organize such events every year and discuss the media issues. It is a good opportunity to remind about our ethical duties to the media practitioners and journalists and raise awareness of the public on media ethic issues. It will help the Mongolian media to gain the public trust and credibility which is increasingly getting low.”
The round table Freedom of Expression and National Legislation dedicated to the IMED was organized by Globe International Center in cooperation of the Confederation of Mongolian Journalists (CMJ) on November 13, 2015 in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The Round table held at Globe International Center meeting room and gathered 15 journalists, editors and President and Vice President of the CMJ.
Mr. B.Galaarid, CMJ President moderated the round table and Mrs. Kh.Naranjargal, GIC President opened the round table. In her opening remark, she stressed media is for the public and it is public watch dog. In doing their business, media outlets should be responsible to the public. Mongolia should be a part of the global discussions on the media ethics, so we should organize such events every year and discuss the internal media issues. It is good opportunity to remind about our ethical duties to the media practitioners and journalists and raise awareness of the public on media ethic issues.
Bijay Singh, Communications Director- South Asia, Center for Media Ethics welcomed the participants. He told about the CIME initiatives on IMED which was started in 2011 and it is getting to be global.
Two most recent developments initiated by GIC are UPR recommendations and recommendations of the Media assessment report. These two recommendations were introduced to the participants by T.Ayushjav, GIC Media Program Coordinator and Kh.Naranjargal, GIC (MDI).
GIC has submitted the report “Freedoms of Opinion and Expression” the UN UPR in 2014. The UN Human Rights Council discussed the Mongolian national report on May 5, 2015 in Geneva and the Mongolian Government has received the recommendations from 8 countries to harmonize the domestic legislation with the international standards, ensure Internet freedom, provide for legal protection of whistleblowers and journalistic confidential sources.
Media assessment was conducted by the GIC in cooperation with the CMJ, Press Institute and Transparency Fund in 2013-2014 and used the UNESCO Media Development Indicators.
Internet regulation is one of the top issues in Mongolia. Since Mongolia is missing broadcast or electronic media law, broadcast and online media is regulated by the procedures and rules approved by the Communications Regulatory Commission (CRC). These procedures overlap the domestic and international laws and it introduces restrictions and sanctions. Registration of the news and information websites and filtering software are obligatory. Mr.L.Galbaatar, Lawyer was invited to present on the on the domestic legislation concerning Internet.
The following themes were discussed by the round table participants.
- Political and business affiliation affecting quality journalism
- Media owners ignore journalism ethics
- Media’s role in the new information society where social media brings a significant change in information gathering, producing and disseminating and information seeking behavior of the people
- Could free speech and free information flow be harmful to the foreign relationship of Mongolia, a country completely landlocked between Russia and China?
- Social media s becoming a carrier and holder of information to affect national security - Free information and public health: is it harmful to the country’s economy, if media freely and frequently report on inflectional diseases in the country.
- Difference between professional journalism and citizen journalism?
- No solidarity among journalists and media practitioners
- Some news websites encourage disclosure of IP addresses of their users and publicize they are the only ones which do not libel persons
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The Round table participants stressed on:
- Need to educate media practitioners and journalists on the media law and international standards on FoE
- Need of internal governance and editorial guidelines
- Support a newly- born Media Council
- International best practices on self-regulation should be introduced and awareness activities are important.
Finally, they concluded: “Mongolia should be a part of the global discussions on the media ethics, so we should organize such events every year and discuss the media issues. It is a good opportunity to remind about our ethical duties to the media practitioners and journalists and raise awareness of the public on media ethic issues. It will help the Mongolian media to gain the public trust and credibility which is increasingly getting low.”