No Result
View All Result
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
23 °c
Tripoli
24 ° Sat
24 ° Sun
  • Advertising
  • Contact
LibyaHerald
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Libya
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Magazine
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
LibyaHerald
No Result
View All Result
Home Libya

The Hammamet media ethics forum continued its deliberations on day two

bySami Zaptia
January 26, 2013
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
The Hammamet media ethics forum continued its deliberations on day two

The Maghrebi media ethics forum held in Hammamet, Tunisia.

By Sami Zaptia.

The Maghrebi media ethics forum held in Hammamet, Tunisia.

Hammamet, Tunisia, 26 January:

The ‘Forum on the Code of Ethics for Journalists in the Maghreb Region’ continued its second . . .[restrict]day deliberations in Hammamet, Tunisia on Thursday.

The forum, sponsored by the EU Delegation of Tunisia, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation could not agree on the first draft on Wednesday and it took a redrafting session until 2am Thursday morning to come up with a consensus draft.

Over 40 media representatives comprising media owners, editors, journalists and photographers from Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Germany, USA and the EU were present.

RELATED POSTS

Libya will not bear burdens of illegal immigration alone or be settlement area: Interior Minister Trabelsi

Euro Film Festival will be held in Tripoli from 24 to 28 November

Muna Ragik from Libya’s state-owned daily newspaper Febrayer said that it was “a complex and difficult period in which journalists put their lives on the line. But we need a set of laws to regulate it. We have our responsibilities and hope to make journalists more effective”.

Khaled Ghulam, from the Communications Faculty at Tripoli university, Libya, and former member of Libya’s Press Support Association said that ‘’this meeting is different to any previous other meeting because it is happening post the February 17th Revolution because under Qaddafi there was no framework or if any law existed, it was not implemented. But now there is an important movement in Libya. Now, there are about 500 registered newspapers and magazines and over 20 private and public TV stations. But these are working without any legal or organizational ethics in Libya. Therefore, you can be defamatory to people.”

“There have been numerous initiatives by journalists and academics in Libya where drafts were proposed. There was a meeting of the media in August 2011 in Benghazi and in March 2012. And there was another conference in Tripoli recently. We have discussed code of ethics and a union for journalists. Then we met again in Benghazi. But our proposals were not adopted by General National Council yet. It is our first experience so I hope to take advantage here to learn from my Maghreb colleagues. I hope through our dialogue here in this forum we can benefit.”

Noureddine Miftah, president of the FMEJ the Moroccan Federation of Editors and Journalist said that ‘’it is not the problem of a code of ethics, but how to get journalists to work with it and within it. The code exists but it is not working. There is no punishment for those who do not respect it. How useful will this Maghrebi code of ethics be in adding to the existing ones in Morocco, Mauritania etc? Are we just adding another one? We should start with a mechanism of a press observatory first’’.

Tom Mcgrath European External Action Service said that ‘‘this is my third attempt to come and speak in Tunisia on media freedom. The previous 2 attempts under the previous regime were aborted! The principles have remained the same for 40-50 years but it is the context that changes. How do you implement them. This is a respectable number of respected members of the press from your countries.’’

As Libya Herald’s co-founder and Managing Editor, I said that “as a person who owns and runs a newspaper I have to be and think practically. Context is important in the case of post conflict transitional Libya. The Libyan state is barely able to operate efficiently let alone conduct or engage efficiently with the media. The challenges realities and practicalities for a new, small, privately owned media source such as Libya Herald are very real. Libya’s economy means that advertising revenue is limited and limiting our ability to expand our personnel and cover a geographically spread country like Libya.”

“Add to that all the security threats, the difficulty in trying to check and double check facts and trying to balance out the conflicting views of the contesting political, religious, tribal, and regional parties. The weak rule of law and the weak state will reflect on the media sector. Therefore an ideal set of ethics is just that. It’s an ideal to aim for in the case of Libya over the next few months and years – in parallel with the development of the Libyan state That how as owner-editor I see the scenario beyond the theorizing of a set of high ethics here today’’

Naiara Gallaraga of Spain’s El Pais said that “Spain’s code of ethics started in 1977 just after the dictator Franco died. It started off as an internal document. We developed our code of ethics slowly and slowly it became Spain’s contract with readers. The 600 page volume of ethics and definitions sold over 70,000 copies and guides our daily work. We were the first to introduce an ombudsman and readers can make a complaint. Forty years later it is noted as the start of the formation of the rules that govern media in Spain today.”

Tazi Saad of Le Soir Echo from Morocco noted that the competition that the regular media receives from the social media and the internet and the great following they receive. He also noted how the internet and social media is not bound by the rules that constrain the rest of the media.

The deliberations continued into the final session. [/restrict]

Tags: ethicsEUforumHammametjournalistsLibyaMaghrebmediaTunisia

Related Posts

Libya Herald exclusive: Responding to the prime minister’s call yesterday to the private sector and banks to do more, leading businessman Husni Bey responds
Business

Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

July 2, 2025
Libyan Russian Economic Forum starts in St. Petersburg
Libya

Libyan Russian Economic Forum starts in St. Petersburg

June 27, 2025
MoI establishes Elections Security and Protection Department
Libya

Aldabaiba and Menfi stress use of polling feedback to establish consensus basis for constitutional process: report and analysis

June 26, 2025
GNU to take oath at Benghazi HoR session and budget to be approved at Tripoli session: GNU
Libya

“There is no state built by gangs and criminality, it’s built by engineers, youth, consultants, security, police and army”: Aldabaiba

June 23, 2025
GNU to take oath at Benghazi HoR session and budget to be approved at Tripoli session: GNU
Libya

187 new security posts taken over from militias – PM declares victory for the state as all vital Tripoli sites come under its exclusive control for the first time since 2011

June 19, 2025
Interior Ministry’s Diplomatic Missions Protection personnel receiving training in Ukraine
Libya

The Interior Ministry had spent LD 50 billion in 13 years with no result: Acting Interior Minister Trabelsi

June 17, 2025
Next Post
Former regime project on hold worth $140 BN says Elkaber

Former regime project on hold worth $140 BN says Elkaber

Misrata council member murdered

Misrata council member murdered

ADVERTISEMENT

Top Stories

  • Libya Herald exclusive: Responding to the prime minister’s call yesterday to the private sector and banks to do more, leading businessman Husni Bey responds

    Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • All imports into Libya must be paid for through official bank transactions

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • A 247,000-bpd oil production increase would achieve US$ 6 billion annually to enhance ability to meet FX demand, maintain strength of LD and achieve economic balance: CBL ‎

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • CBL demands imports are conducted through official banking instruments and the elimination of the FX black market

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Libya’s economy showed recovery in 2024, remained resilient despite reliance on hydrocarbons and ongoing political and security instability: World Bank

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
ADVERTISEMENT
LibyaHerald

The Libya Herald first appeared on 17 February 2012 – the first anniversary of the Libyan Revolution. Since then, it has become a favourite go-to source on news about Libya, for many in Libya and around the world, regularly attracting millions of hits.

Recent News

A 247,000-bpd oil production increase would achieve US$ 6 billion annually to enhance ability to meet FX demand, maintain strength of LD and achieve economic balance: CBL ‎

Op-Ed: Reputational Damage Is Worse Than Losing Money

Sitemap

  • Why subscribe?
  • Terms & Conditions
  • FAQs
  • Copyright & Intellectual Property Rights
  • Subscribe now

Newsletters

    Be the first to know latest important news & events directly to your inbox.

    Sending ...

    By signing up, I agree to our TOS and Privacy Policy.

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    Welcome Back!

    Login to your account below

    Forgotten Password? Sign Up

    Create New Account!

    Fill the forms below to register

    *By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
    All fields are required. Log In

    Retrieve your password

    Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

    Log In
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Login
    • Sign Up
    • Libya
    • Business
    • Advertising
    • About us
    • BusinessEye Magazine
    • Letters
    • Features
    • Why subscribe?
    • FAQs
    • Contact

    © 2022 LibyaHerald - Powered by Sparx Solutions.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.