Manila (ICRC) – Duapuluh dua wartawan senior dari sembilan negara di Asia Pasifik – Australia, China, Filipina, Indonesia, Jepang, Korea Selatan, Malaysia, Selandia Baru, Thailand – memenuhi undangan Komite Internasional Palang Merah (ICRC) untuk berbagi pengalaman dan best practices dalam melakukan peliputan konflik dan keadaan darurat, seperti bencana alam pada hari Kamis dan Jumat (13&14/10) lalu. Tema tersebut dielaborasi dalam tiga topik berbeda, yakni peliputan kekerasan dan keadaan darurat: peluang dan tantangan; peran media dalam perlindungan bagi yang paling rentan; dan keselamatan jurnalis dalam peliputan konflik dan keadaan darurat.

Para peserta kemudian sepakat untuk mengeluarkan sebuah deklarasi, Manila Declaration, yang diantaranya pembentukan Manila Club untuk promosi prinsip-prinsip hukum humaniter internasional dalam peliputan konflik dan bencana, seruan kerjasama antara media dan organisasi kemanusiaan guna memberi ruang bagi para korban untuk berbicara, dan penekanan tentang pentingnya  peliputan yang etis.

Dalam konferensi yang bertema “Reporting on Violence and Emergencies” ini, tiga wartawan senior Indonesia, yakni Yuli Ismartono (Wapemred Tempo Weekly Magazine), Uni Lubis (Pemred ANTeve), dan Eddy Suprapto (Kepala Channel Production News sekaligus perwakilan dari AJI) menjadi pembicara untuk tiga sub tema berbeda. Sementara, koresponden pemenang “Best News Anchor” Asia tahun 2004 dari Al Jazeera, Veronica Pedrosa, menyampaikan Keynote Speech mengenai “Peran media sosial dalam konflik kontemporer”.

Berikut adalah petikan lengkap dari Manila Declaration

 

THE MANILA DECLARATION

INTRODUCTION

We are a group of journalists from the Asia-Pacific region brought together in Manila on the 14th of October 2011 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

We come from a wide range of backgrounds within the media community in 9 countries, but we share common concerns about reporting on violence and emergencies.

REPORTING ON VIOLENCE AND EMERGENCIES

We agree to continue our discussion on the challenges and opportunities presented by contemporary conflicts and the complex and fast-changing information environment, such as what constitutes responsible journalism, neutrality vs. transparency, accuracy vs. time constraints, and being a responsive and responsible journalist.

We agree to do this by setting up an online forum to share information among the signatories, as The Manila Club.

The Manila Club aims to promote the principles of international humanitarian law in reporting violence and emergencies.

The Manila Club aims to encourage the growth of a community of media practitioners who share our concerns.

THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA IN PROTECTING VULNERABLE PEOPLE

We encourage collaboration between media and humanitarian and other organisations for better access and understanding of conflict and violence, complex emergencies, and disaster situations to give voice to the most vulnerable through excellent journalism and the responsible use of social media.

THE SAFETY OF JOURNALISTS REPORTING IN CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES

To that end,

• Journalists should recognise the importance of ethical reporting, independence and transparency in ensuring their own safety.

• They should work towards a media industry-supported safety code similar to that suggested by the International News Safety Institute (INSI).

• That the ICRC be supported in distributing a small laminated card summarising the rights of journalists under international law.

• That journalist organisations initiate education programs on training and sharing knowledge and experience on operating in traumatic and dangerous situations and set up formal peer support programs.

• That journalists work together with the ICRC and NGOs to persuade governments and parties involved in conflict to meet their legal and moral obligations.

SIGNED ON14 OCTOBER 2011INMANILA,PHILIPPINES