"A Challenge To All Journalists"

Thanks to the group Basque Diaspora we got a hold of this interview with Aidan White regarding the Egunkaria case:

Interview: Aidan White General Secretary of the International Federation ofJournalists

"The closure of Egunkaria is a challenge to all journalists"

2003-04-20

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is the biggest federation of journalist in the world: It represents about half a million journalist from more than one hundred states.

-What do you think about the closure of Egunkaria?

We are really concerned about the closure of Egunkaria. It was a newspaper which was regarded as professional and was accused of illegal activity. I think that the closure of any newspaper, which is a professional newspaper is extremely dangerous, is an attack on press freedom. In this case we are particularly concern, because Egunkaria was the only 100% Basque language newspaper. This, for us, raises very serious concern on pluralism, and it was for that reason that we expressed concern about the closure and raised the question over how it was done. We realize that this was a judicial decision, but we feel that it is extremely important that such a decision have to be based on a thorough understanding of what the potential consequences are for press freedom, and we are not quite sure that that has been considered. At the same time we are, as an organization, unequivocal in our condemnation of any group trying to use terrorism or any other illegal activity. We were very concerned when our intervention was apparently interpreted by some people as being in support of a terrorist organization. We have always taken a very strong line against organizations that threatens journalists. We have done it in Northern Ireland, in Algeria, in every region of the world where it is happening. In the case of Egunkaria, the question is: Could this actions have been taken without closing the newspaper?

-A simple accusation was used to close Egunkaria. Don't you think that such anextreme measure would need at least a firm sentence?

I think that before you close a newspaper, you have to be very very clear that the allegations against the newspaper - that is has been used for terrorist activity, in this case- have to be proved. You have to listen to what people say objectively from the outside of Egunkaria, and see if they say that it was a newspaper directed by ETA. I have reports here of media professionals telling me what the newspaper was doing, and they said that it was a professional newspaper and was doing a very good job.

Of course it represented mainly the points of view of the nationalist community. I am Irish, I come from the catholic community in Northern Ireland an I am very well aware that media have to tread a difficult line. In Northern Ireland you have two daily newspapers: One represents the protestant community and the other one the catholic community. Both tell the same story, but they tell it, naturally, from the perspective of those communities they represent. I would never say that just because a newspaper represents a certain political tradition or community it automatically supports terrorism. In the case of Egunkaria we are still waiting for a clear evidence for the justification of this action.

-Can you tell us of any similar situation in Norther Ireland? Has any newspaper been closed?

There have been restrictions, famously the television ban to use the authentic voice of Gerry Adams, which was absolutely absurd. But they have never been tempted to close newspapers, although newspapers like Republican News, for example, have been regarded as very close to terrorism -I think very much closer than Egunkaria has ever been. It has never been closed.

-Do you know of any other case similar to Egunkaria's all over the world?

Yes there have been other cases, but I can not precise right now where. From my point of view any closure of a newspaper is such a serious thing that it has to be thoroughly proved to be justified, and I think in this case it was not.

-In these cases, and in the case of Egunkaria particularly, what can your federation do?

We can raise a debate. As we did in this case, we express our strong opinion, and ask for a review of the situation. We have promoted discussion among Basque journalists and Spanish journalists, about how they respond on this question, and I think there is a lot of concern. That is the kind of thing we are going to promote. The closure of Egunkaria is a challenge to all journalists, is a challenge to Basque journalists, but is also a challenge to journalists in Spain to show solidarity and to really examen the consequences for press freedom. I do feel that solidarity between Basque journalists and Spanish journalists is essential in confronting all threats to press freedom. I hope there will be more dialog and more effective cooperation in defense of press freedom. The IFJ is going to do what it can to promote this cooperation.

-150 workers have been deprived of their jobs, and there is not a single accusation against them.

That is one of the major concerns we have, because when a newspaper is closed it is not only a threaten to press freedom, but also a threat to the livelihood of hundreds of people and their families. The fact that so many people have lost their jobs is also very bad news, and it also raises against the question that if a newspaper is going to be closed it has to be absolutely justified, and we are not convinced in this case that it was. We feel that loss of jobs is a terrible thing, and we would hope that egunkaria should be reopened, and soon.

-As Egunkaria was the only daily newspaper in Basque, we think this was also anattack against our language. Do you agree?

We have raise the concern of the impact on pluralism. Of course the Basque language is an extremely important part of this discussion. We know that minority language groups throughout Europa have expressed concern about what happened to Egunkaria, and we fully sympathize with that.

-As you know, some of the arrested people have claimed that their were tortured by the Spanish Police, and that the Spanish Government instead of investigating into it has sued them. What is your opinion on this?

If there are allegations of torture there are rules on national and international levels for those to be properly investigated. International law is very clear on that point.

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