By Sally-Ann Wilson

“Free society cannot exist without free media. Free media cannot exist without free society”. This strong and welcome assertion came from Alar Karis, President of Estonia as he opened the main session of the third conference associated with the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) in Estonia last week.

The hybrid conference was hosted by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Estonian Institute of Human Rights. PMA has been involved in the Media Freedom Coalition since its inception in the winter of 2018/9 and some of our team were in Estonia to participate.  Our role is to advocate for the critical part that public media plays in society and to emphasise that its independence must be sacrosanct for it to be trusted by the public.

It was certainly good to be back on the ground, physically meeting and interviewing representatives from this multi-stakeholder initiative. The MFC links the governments of 50 countries to a worldwide network of civil society, journalist and media development organisations. The aim is to develop better protections for journalists and to promote media freedom. PMA is on the Consultative Network (MFC-CN), the 22 organisations that work closely with the MFC to highlight cases, and sometimes countries, of concern.

The three-day meeting included closed sessions involving the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, and a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the countries who have signed up to the coalition. The general topics were varied and focused on issues such as how best to increase support to media following the devastating impact of COVID-19.

It was Guilherme Canela De Souza Godoi, UNESCO’s Chief of Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists Section who specifically raised the issue of public media in an open session, reminding everyone that effective public media is dying, noting that we cannot ignore the importance of that. He expanded on this when PMA caught up with him later in the conference.

The MFC-Consultative Network, released a statement to coincide with the conference, calling on the member countries of the MFC to fulfil the commitments expressed in the Global Pledge on Media Freedom. The statement urged that, “concrete actions and effective measures to improve the media freedom situation both domestically and internationally must be taken” a view with which PMA completely agrees.

Guilherme Canela speaking during the Global Conference on Media Freedom in Estonia
Listen: Guilherme Canela speaks to PMA during the conference. Image above: Guilherme Canela (centre) speaking during the Global Conference on Media Freedom in Estonia, in Feb 2022. Credit: Harry Lock
The Global Conference on Media Freedom, held in Tallinn, Estonia
Listen: Owais Aslam Ali updates PMA on the situation in Pakistan. Image: Conference session. Credit: Harry Lock

The MFC-Consultative Network, released a statement to coincide with the conference, calling on the member countries of the MFC to fulfil the commitments expressed in the Global Pledge on Media Freedom. The statement urged that, “concrete actions and effective measures to improve the media freedom situation both domestically and internationally must be taken” a view with which PMA completely agrees.

One session focused on the academic evaluation of the MFC and asked if a reset is required? PMA will take a deeper look at this question in a special report in the coming days.

The meeting also gave PMA a chance to follow up in person with issues that we have been covering in the past two years, such as the proposal by the Pakistan Government to form a new super regulator, the Pakistan Media Authority. Owais Aslam Ali from the Pakistan Press Foundation was one of the first Co-Chairs of the MFC’s Consultative Network and he updated us on the situation in Pakistan.

Being on the ground in Estonia also allowed us to spend time with the country’s public broadcaster ERR. Estonia was annexed into the USSR following WW2, only regaining its independence in 1991. Democracy is therefore comparatively new and precious. The Chair of ERR’s Board, Erik Roose, outlined the responsibility of the public broadcaster to deliver value for money in his interview with PMA.

The Public Media Alliance will be returning to our interviews with ERR for a spotlight on the broadcaster later in the spring.

ERR interview during the Global Conference on Media Freedom
Listen: ERR Chair, Erik Roose, talks PMA's Harry Lock about the importance of public media in Estonia. Image: ERR journalist interviews Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon during the Global Conference on Media Freedom in Tallinn, Estonia, Feb 2022. Credit: Harry Lock

Header Image: View of the Old Town in Tallinn, Estonia, during the Global Conference on Media Freedom, Feb 2022. Credit: Harry Lock