MEDIA FREEDOM AT THE OSCE: EAST V. WEST CONTINUES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USOSCE 000035

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV OSCE PHUM PREL KHLS RS
SUBJECT: MEDIA FREEDOM AT THE OSCE: EAST V. WEST CONTINUES

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) The state of Media Freedom in the OSCE region
continues to be a hotly debated topic, particularly between
the Russian Federation and the Central Asian States on one
side and the U.S., EU and several like-minded delegations on
the other. As the process to select the OSCE's next
representative on Media Freedom has come to a standstill due
to Russian intransigence, the Kazakh Chair in Office (CiO) is
scrambling to accommodate competing interests in the
selection of an agenda for the 2010 Human Dimension meetings.
A 'hypothetical compromise' to include a Supplementary Human
Dimension meeting on Media Freedom has thus far failed to
blossom. Following the U.S. thematic statement on Media
Freedom at the February 4 PC, the Russian Ambassador
delivered a previously planned statement on the 'failures' of
Media Freedom in the U.S. End summary.

SELECTING THE NEXT RFoM
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2. (SBU) The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media
(RFoM) Miklos Haraszti will step down on March 10 after six
years in the position. The process to select his replacement
began in September 2009 and has settled on one candidate
acceptable to 55 of the 56 OSCE pS, with only Russia, since
late December, refusing to withdraw its candidate. The
candidate all other pS agree on is Dunja Mijatovic, from
Bosnia-Herzegovina (and an ethnic Serb). In January, the
Kazakh Chair in Office (CiO) told USOSCE CDA Carol Fuller
they were confident Russia will ultimately withdraw its
candidate - in time for Mijatovic to take up her posting
before Haraszti's scheduled departure. As time passes, we
wonder if Russia plans to agree to the appointment only after
having gained concessions on other human rights issues.

A STRUGGLE FOR A HUMAN DIMENSION AGENDA
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3. (SBU) Simultaneously, the Human Dimension Committee (HDC)
is striving to reach consensus on the schedule of events
planned for the Third Dimension in 2010. Initially, the
Kazakhstan CiO had proposed a work plan that relegated
efforts on media freedom to the narrow topic of media
self-regulation. We objected vigorously, along with a number
of other European partners. Russia has repeatedly threatened
that if any changes are made to the Chair's draft agenda they
will insist on many of their own "priorities" - e.g.,
"freedom of movement." A 'hypothetical compromise' was
floated on January 29 by the Kazakh delegation to include a
Supplementary Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (SHDM)
on Media Freedom (without reference to Media Self Regulation
in the title) but at a February 4 HDC meeting, Kazakhstan
again asked all pS to accept the package as originally
proposed - or with the addition of an SHDM on Media Freedom
and Media Self Regulation. The U.S. voiced opposition to
including anything in connection with media self regulation
and was supported by several like-minded pS. Kazakhstan is
continuing to try and find a workable compromise.

RUSSIA CHIDES U.S. ON MEDIA FREEDOM
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4. (SBU) With media freedom continuing to deteriorate in some
OSCE pS, the United States delivered an unusual (though not
unprecedented) thematic statement on the topic in general at
the February 4 PC meeting. Immediately afterwards, Russian
Ambassador Anvar Azimov, in response to a January 28 U.S.
statement in the PC on rule of law in Russia, delivered a
statement on the failures of Media Freedom in the U.S. in
which he excoriated the U.S. delegation for politicizing
tragedies suffered by the families of killed journalists and
for 'whipping up tensions' by repeatedly mentioning such
matters at the PC "like a broken record." Azimov then
recited a litany of claimed U.S. violations of media freedom,
including such events as the "sacking" of Dan Rather (and
four others) for criticizing President Bush's National Guard
service, and the classification by the Bush administration of
CNN as an opposition television channel for its Hurricane
Katrina coverage, while the Fox News Network, due to its
loyalty to the administration, broadcast "uninterruptedly
positive reports" of the events in New Orleans. Azimov cited
the imprisonment for 226 days of a cameraman Joshua Wolf for
refusing to hand over his video coverage of a globalization
protest in San Francisco and cited the pressure brought by
law enforcement against journalists in the Valerie Plame and
Wen Ho Lee cases with journalists Judith Miller and Walter
Pincus being prosecuted or imprisoned for failing to reveal
sources.


5. (U) Azimov said the U.S. media policy, which is held up as

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the model on freedom of speech, "turns out to involve fairly
strict media censorship." He also claimed, inter alia, that
after 9/11, the U.S adopted special laws restricting the
Muslim media and cited the U.S. ranking by Reporters Without
Borders as #41. He cited a Washington Post story that he
claimed reported the U.S. Homeland Security Department gave
its border officers instructions to confiscate any material
from journalists (U.S. and foreign) on a discriminatory basis
and with no reasons given and to disseminate the information
to other law enforcement bodies or intelligence services.


6. (U) In her response to Azimov, USOSCE CDA pushed back,
powerfully pointing out that Azimov's cited source also
identified Russia as number 148 and called Russia "one of the
deadliest countries for journalists." She pointed out that
in none of the incidents cited by Azimov did he allege that
violence was perpetrated against journalists in the U.S. with
impunity, that journalists were killed and investigations not
conducted, that overly harsh prison sentences or outrageously
punitive fines were imposed, or that the U.S. Government
demonstrated outright hostility towards the exercise of
freedom of speech - i.e., all of the items she had referred
to in the U.S. statement on freedom of the media in the OSCE
region. Her response further identified inconsistencies in
the Russian statement and called on the Russian Federation,
and all pS, to commit to a fruitful conversation on media
freedom.

COMMENT
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7. (SBU) Media freedom is shaping up to be one of the more
contentious areas in the Human Dimension of the OSCE during
the Kazakh Chairmanship. At the same time, it remains high
on the agenda of the continuing Corfu Process discussions on
European security. Our top priority is to assure a
successful and timely transition to a new RFOM. Russia would
be all too pleased to let several months pass with the office
vacant (as happened by Russian doing in 2004).

8.(SBU) (Comment continued) The Kazakh CiO is feeling caught
between East and West as it tries to balance competing views
in the Human Dimension - most notably, of late, in the area
of media freedom. With media freedoms suffering serious
setbacks in Central Asia, the countries of the Southern
Caucasus and Russia, and with Italy being downgraded in 2008
by Freedom House from Free to Partly Free, we are actively
seeking out ways to keep this high on the OSCE's priority
list. As we grapple with the broad concept of European
security through the Corfu Process and in line with the
Secretary's January 29 Paris speech, we are looking at
possible proposals for reinforcing the role of the RFOM.
FULLER