EU Commission Wants Media Code on Reporting on Islam. Or Not ?

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Thursday 9 February, Mr Franco Frattini, the vice-President of the European Commission and the EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom, and Security, argued that the cartoons in Danish paper Jyllands-Posten "humiliated" millions of muslims. In December, Mr. Frattini already had called the publication of the twelve cartoons (see them here, halfway down the page) “thoughtless and inappropriate” and that “these kinds of drawings can add to the growing Islamophobia in Europe. I fully respect the freedom of speech, but, excuse me, one should avoid making any statement like this, which only arouses and incites to the growing radicalisation.” Mr. Frattini now thinks the journalist of The Daily Telegraph misconstrued what he said in the interview of 9 February. He issued a press release, explaining his side of the story and concluding: "I have never suggested imposing a code of conduct on the press, it is up to the media themselves to self-regulate or not, and it is up to the media to formulate such a voluntary code of conduct if it is found necessary, appropriate and useful by them. There have never been, nor will there be any plans by the European Commission to have some sort of EU regulation, nor is there any legal basis for doing so." But David Rennie, the journalist who had spoken with him, reacted and posted the full transcript of the tape with the interview: "It is a matter of fact that we have to react with an obvious condemnation of violence, but on the other hand to offer to them a way out, an appropriate solution. The code of conduct is self-regulation, but it would be if agreed, a positive message, also a political message, if I may say, to the Muslim world, by accepting in principle this point of the responsibility together with the freedom of expression. The press will give the Muslim world the message: we are aware of the consequences of exercising the right of free expression, we can and we are ready to self-regulate our right. It is not the right of the European institutions, it is not the right of the Muslim people to unilaterally demand or regulate the freedom of expression, but the right of the press itself to regulate, that is the idea." The International Federation of Journalists has cri…