
GRTU's EU Desk has last week participated in the
EESC's very insightful Media Seminar which addressed the topic of 'Freedom of
the Media'. Media experts from civil society organisations, European and
national bodies and business, as well as journalists, discussed freedom of
reporting and professional journalism in the EU and its neighbouring countries.
Important aspects discussed during the meeting were
the development of Social Media and the important role these play as an
alternative and effective way of engaging individuals. GRTU will in fact in the
coming month launch a facebook page with
the intent of communicating itself better to members. Recent social and
political turmoil in Europe and beyond seems to have brought into focus the
role played by social media in helping people to organise, to stage protests
and to express their views. The conference spoke about the phenomenon of
citizen journalism.
The conference examined the increasing political and
financial pressure journalists are working under and the impact of that
pressure on the quality of journalism and on democracy.
Even though in Malta there is no real oppression to
journalists and journalism we do have the strong involvement of politics and an
issue with giving the people unbiased and non-politicised information. The
conference called for real and independent journalism and above all good
journalism. Good journalism is ethical, it is sensitive not to offend the
audience and tells the truth. It does not put unnecessary chaos and feeling of
unsafety. The conference called for journalists to acknowledged the power of
the media on people's perceptions and feelings therefore it called on them to
be sensitive in their reporting.