Report from ICF President Bernard Margueritte, Caux, August 2006

It is a special pleasure to see you all in Mountain House. We all need this togetherness and the possibility to recharge our moral batteries and find a renewed enthusiasm in the spirit of Caux. This is however also why it’s so sad not to see among us dear friends, who were here with us last year. I am thinking of course about our beloved vice-president Jara Moserova. We miss her smile, her dignity, her passion. She was certainly not an ordinary person. A multi-talented woman. A surgeon in the first place, who tried to rescue Jan Palach and never afterwards could think about this fighter for freedom without the deepest emotions. She was herself a fighter for freedom against communism and a friend of Vaclav Havel. She was a talented play-writer, an ambassador, a politician, the vice-president of the Czech Senate, an almost successful candidate for president of her country. But mostly she was always herself, a strong personality, an authentic person looking to find the best in others. Jara, the ICF without you will never be the same, but I know that you will stay with us and that is for us a call to continue our commitment with an even greater enthusiasm and dedication. 

Indeed are we doing well? Have we done well in the past year? To answer that question we have to confront the results with the goals. What have been the goals of the ICF, my goals since I became president? I can enumerate at least 6 of them: 

1/ to broaden the geographic reach of the ICF:   

We have had 3 years ago our first conference in Africa, in Cape Town. This was an important step, but only a first step. We have now to develop our activity in Africa. I am happy that we have with us people from the African continent, like prof. Guy Berger or Rafael Marques. I am sure they will carry the word of the ICF on the whole African continent. 

The ICF had also two sessions on the media last September in Krynica, Poland. This is a big East-West gathering and it gave us the opportunity to stress our interest in Eastern Europe, in countries like Russia and Ukraine. I had also the pleasure to take part in the International Congress of the Family in Kiev (where I spoke about the Media and the Family) and to attend the Congress of the World Association of Newspapers in Moscow. This was also of course an opportunity to make new contacts. I am convinced that the ICF will soon develop, also with the friends we have here today, in those two countries. 

The ICF was also responsible for a panel at the Panchgani conference, organized in India by our friends from IofC India. Guy Berger was there and I think it was a significant, if modest, step forward. We will do better and to a great extent thanks to the dedication of my friend Sanjoy Hazarika, who is with us today. We will speak on another occasion about plans, but let me just tell you that the ICF will be involved in 2 important conferences in India in 2007! 

An area where we have not been strong enough is certainly South America. This should be one of our first priorities for next year. I just spoke earlier this month here in Caux with Juarez Pereira, from Uruguay and Brazil, who offered his help to organize an ICF conference in Porto Alegre. This is a significant opportunity. 

You know that for some years now we are trying to have a conference in Lebanon. We have the program, the people, the venue, the organizational help. Everything was almost ready when our great friend Gebran Tueni was assassinated. This is a tragedy for his family, for the ICF, but above all for Lebanon. It seems it was yesterday when we embraced each other. I see his smile, his elegant dignity, his enthusiasm. I spoke also earlier this month here with Ramez Salamé, the leader of IofC in Lebanon, who urges us to move forward. And we will. It is our calling and also our duty, particularly now when we see with anger, despair and compassion our dear friends in Lebanon suffering under blind and inhuman violence. More than ever we are with them. 

2/ to encourage the building of local, national or regional chapters:  

We reached the conclusion that the ICF is in need of some kind of decentralization. There are many similarities in the problems faced by the media, but there are also specificities. The situation is not the same in every country, in all parts of the world. Moreover a national chapter gives the opportunity for media people on the spot to show their own initiatives, to have their own projects. Of course we have to find a nice balance between autonomy and respect for the broader goals of the ICF. We will never let the ICF go wildly in all directions and we have to make sure that the whole program of the ICF as a network is binding for all chapters. That being said there is still a large room of maneuvers for many local or national initiatives. 

In this framework, we have been happy to register the launching of two ICF chapters, one in America, the other one in the UK. Another one is almost ready to start in Poland. India could possibly follow. We are also looking at chapters in Russia, in Africa. To be honest, this is important to better motivate the energy of media people on the ground, but it is also essential if we want to give the ICF a strong financial basis, without which it would be difficult to progress. Indeed it is much easier to raise money for our activities on a local, national or regional basis than for the ICF as an international network. 

3/ to attract more media practitioners (or media teachers): 

If we want to change the way the media operate, we have to reach primarily people working on a day-to-day basis in the media. That seems obvious. We include in this group media teachers because they are preparing the journalists of tomorrow and also because, almost always, they are themselves practitioners (Guy Berger is a remarkable example of this).  

This is crucial also because there is nothing upsetting more media people than to hear “friends of the media” telling them what they should do. Indeed how the advices given by people, who do not know in practice what it is to fight a deadline, to argue with an editor, to find reliable sources, could be fully relevant? Too often therefore the preaching coming from the sideline is frustrating media practitioners and, as such, is by on large counterproductive. As says the motto of the ICF, our goal is to act “with the media, by the media, for the people”. 

This is not to say of course that we do not need sound advices, support and help coming from all kind of good people. We need them, we strongly welcome them, but the core group of the ICF should be media people. This is particularly true in the new ICF chapters and I am happy that the chairman of ICF-America is Bob Webb, who has had an outstanding career of working journalist, and the chairman of ICF-UK is Magnus Linklater, an outstanding British journalist. 

Indeed we have had some significant successes in attracting true media practitioners. Happily enough we had for example at our conference in Cape Town an overwhelming majority of media practitioners. This will also be the case at our forthcoming conference in India, where we are fortunate to have a brilliant media man, with Sanjoy Hazarika, as the leader. Needless to say, wherever I go, I try to meet primarily media practitioners.   

4/ to start new programs: 

When we elaborated practical ICF programs, the understanding was that we need to have not only goals, missions, vision, but- maybe even more importantly- concrete ways to show in deeds what we mean when we speak about “ethical media”, “media serving the people and the community”, “media as pillar of democracy or mutual understanding between people”. Of course, every one of us has to listen his/her inner voice, everyone of us has to find again and again new motivations, new commitment, new dedication. It is indeed important to remind, for my own good and for the good of others, what is my, our vision of the media.  

To stop there however would not lead very far. And even divert us to a side way, where we could confront the danger of permanently preaching the converted; of permanently repeating over and over again which high concepts of the media we have, of permanently giving me/us good reasons to see how great we are in a cruel world. 

This is not enough. This is why we decided to start concrete programs: a new web site, where our members could show in practice what we mean when we speak about “honesty in the media”, a research program with Ingrid Volkmer, helping us to better understand the situation of the media in various parts of the world, a video program promoting the ICF and- particularly for schools of journalism- our vision of the ethical and social role of the media, an exchange program- under the leadership of Sanjoy- bringing together not only media practitioners but also media organizations sharing our deontology, a media workshop program, with a few ICF people going in various parts of the world to meet media students or young journalists (we have already been invited to go to Russia with this program, as well as to a variety of US schools of journalism or to the Poynter Institute), a Sonja Porter Award clearly presenting the kind of media we would like to see prevailing. 

Well, those programs are there. The people to carry them are there. And nothing has been done, because simply we don’t have the money. Hopefully this will change with the development of new sources of financing for the ICF. But a strong fund-raising effort should be the task of anyone truly involved in the ICF. 

5/ to develop valuable partnerships: 

In this area we have done much better. I am happy to recognize here Laurent de Cherisey. It is a privilege for us to be a partner of “Reporters d’Espoirs”. One of our leitmotiv has been for a long time that we need to achieve a better balance in the media between depressing news and positive news. Our friend Martyn Lewis spoke eloquently on this on a variety of occasions. How could we not rejoice at the amazing work done by “Reporters d’Espoirs”? Members of “Reporters d’Espoirs” were with us at our conference in Le Touquet. Christian de Boisredon and his wife were in Krynica. I am looking forward for a much broader cooperation.  

Bill and I attended the Congress of the International Press Institute in Edinburgh. I took part at the Congress of the World Association of Newspapers. Those are big media organizations. We are no competition for them. But they are no competition for us either. The IPI is valiantly fighting for the freedom of the press, we too but we tried to concentrate rather on another problem: what we do with our freedom of the press when we are fortunate enough to enjoy it? The WAN is mostly interested in the economy of the media (of course an important topic) and with the new technologies in the media, we prefer to deal with the content of the media, how improving their ethical approach and their image is helping them and allow them to be more profitable, how we can use new technological tools to better serve the people. 

We are a partner of the Warsaw Eastern Institute and its Economic Forum in Krynica. We are developing a close relationship with the Indian Centre for Governance, as will show our conference in Delhi next February. 

All that of course on top of all the partnerships already mentioned in the past ICF documents. 

6/ to enhance the synergy with Initiatives of Change: 

This has been for me from the beginning a top priority. The ICF is not a program coming from Caux but it is a program leading to Caux. At the core of everyone commitment in this room is “the spirit of Caux”. We would not be much without it.  

Now that IofC is starting its own communications program, a very close synergy and synchronization is needed more than ever. I am happy than we have been able to speak about this with our friends of IofC during the past few days. We are different organizations, we are not the same, we are not targeting the same people, but we share the same values and a similar vision of the world and of the civilization of respect for the dignity of the human person we all aspire to build, be it in the media, in the business community, everywhere. The fact of the matter is that coming to Caux every one realizes that there is no problem of the media as such, there is no problem of business as such, there is no problem of education, etc., there is one, huge problem of the civilization we want together to live in tomorrow. 

Being in Caux is a precious opportunity to see the whole picture, to go deeper into our commitment. I will urge you not to miss this opportunity. As I said, I am growing more and more worried of our/mine nice speeches, where we try once again, after so many attempts, to preach the converted. I am convinced we should move rather above and below this level at the same time. On one hand we should concentrate more and more on practical projects, like the one we will have next February in India, figuring out how the media can help better governance in that country, and maybe elsewhere as well. Caux is not the time and place for this kind of ICF conference, they are organized locally in many parts of the world. And I am concerned that those of you who are with us for the first time will not have a proper view of what the ICF is all about. To understand that, please come to one of our meetings in a particular country. 

On the other hand we should do what we can to improve as a person. This is why the fact we are in Caux not for an ICF conference as usual is so precious. What we can get in Caux is much more important than anywhere else, goes much deeper. And, to be honest with you, it’s why I try not to be involved very much in the preparation of this Caux ICF event. For me the ICF is here, but this is not truly an ICF conference. It is much more. It is a unique chance to understand “the spirit of Caux”, to let it go profoundly in your mind and soul. And simply it is a chance for every one to find him/herself. Do not miss it. Be part of this house. Go also to other meetings, sessions, even at the cost of by-passing (on occasion) an ICF session. I know that I should probably not say that and that some of my best colleagues will be unhappy with me. But I know also that it is what I will do myself. But, please, my friends, come back to us, come back as a more dedicated, enriched person. There is a lot we have to do together. As I said however all our dedication, enthusiasm, passion will not be enough. We will not go much further without the means to achieve our objectives. This is the task of anyone in the ICF to help in this regard and to make sure that the programs we have prepared will start in the coming year. So that we can together fight successfully not only for better media but indeed for a better world, for a civilization based upon the respect of human dignity in all aspects. This is our goal.  

Bernard Margueritte