Website plans branded “attack on press freedom”

Date: 08/05/03

By Martin Banks

THE International Federation of Journalists has claimed that plans by a new Brussels-based media website to give interviewees complete control over what is written about them is an "outrageous" attack on press freedom.

The online site - EUpolitix.com - launches on 19 May with a 21-strong staff, 11 of them journalists.

Among its backers are Graham Watson, leader of the European Parliament's Liberal group, who is paid €21,000-a-year as a director of the advisory board to EUpolitix.

The website will be made available via the Parliament intranet, as well as the internet network in the European Commission and Council of Ministers.

Adam Nyman, EUpolitix's chief executive, is open about the site's editorial arrangements. "We will offer copy approval to interviewees, not because we want to endear ourselves to anyone but because we want to be seen to be entirely neutral in our reporting," he told European Voice.

Asked how he could square this with the website's claim to be "editorially independent", Nyman insisted his team would "not be in anyone's pocket".

However, the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists was alarmed by this statement. Aidan White, general secretary of the 500,000 strong organization, said: "It is impossible to be editorially independent if, at the same time, you are offering people you're interviewing the chance to vet their own story.

"It is absolutely outrageous and totally unacceptable.

"This is handing over journalism to the spin doctors and I would be very surprised if the Commission and other EU institutions are endorsing this."

The publisher of an EU title - not this newspaper - has also voiced concerns about the site's plans to provide links to stakeholder "position statements" in return for hefty affiliation fees.

One association approached by EUpolitix this week was offered a choice of two affiliation packages costing €8,000 or €12,000, depending on the number of interviews provided.

An information fact sheet sent out by EUpolitix to potential subscribers is clear about the deal on offer: "Forum members are offered several interviews a year, at tactical moments to suit their own agenda which are then released as news items."

Parliament's spokesman David Harley said: "I would not wish to see an organization trying to pass itself off as providing impartial, objective information if, at the same time, it is offering information to lobbyists."

Dick Toornstra, in charge of Parliament's internal information services, added: "We will be looking very closely at the site once it launches."

Liberal group leader Watson denied that EUpolitix risked compromising editorial independence, adding: "As an MEP I favour easy access to the widest possible range of research resources."

The International Federation of Journalists has claimed that plans by a new Brussels-based media website (Eupolitix.com) to give interviewees complete control over what is written about them is an attack on press freedom.

http://www.EUpolitix.com http://www.EUpolitix.com

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