A “call to action” addressed to the media representatives: this has been the pillar of the meeting “Racism Xenophobia and the Media: towards respect and understanding of all religions and cultures” organised by the European Commission (in the framework of the EUROMED Partnership), the EUMC - European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and held in Vienna (Austria) on the 22 – 23 May 2006. “All parts of every society have a responsibility to act against racism and xenophobia. But the media have a particularly crucial role to play, given their power to shape social attitudes”: said Mrs. Benita Ferrero- Waldner, E.C. Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy.
Promoting the dialogue and the diversity as founding values of the modern societies; finding a balance between freedom of expression and freedom of religion; improving the capacity of journalists of treating diversity and intercultural issues, even through ad-hoc training activities; increasing the presence of cultural and religious minorities in the media industry: these are some of the guide-lines on which the meeting has been focused.
COPEAM has been invited in order to give its contribution to the reflection and to the final proposals. In the framework of the activities of the work group “Regulation/editorial policy in the MED countries” , COPEAM has presented the Seville Charter. The Charter has been welcome as a best-practice in the field of self-regulation of the media and mentioned in the Final Acts of the meeting: “In response to the lack of selfregulatory schemes, COPEAM (Conference of AudiovisualMediterranean Operators) established the Seville Charter (7 May 2005) containing self-commitments bybroadcasters from northern and southern Mediterranean countries.
The Charter has been so far signed by 26 Euro- Mediterranean radio and TV public broadcasters”
(from the official Conference Report).