Caux, Switzerland - 16 to 20 July 2005
The International Communications Forum actively participated in the Caux Centre’s conference on “The Heart and Soul of Europe” from 16 to 20 July 2005. Its speakers at a plenary session were Alain Modoux, former Assistant Director General of UNESCO and currently Advisor to UNESCO for the World Summit on the Information Society, scheduled to be held in Tunis in November; Robert Webb, United States veteran journalist and former Head of the Washington Bureau of the Cincinnati Enquirer; Faustina Starrett, Head of the Journalism Department of North West College, Londonderry in Northern Ireland; and Bernard Margueritte, President of the IC Forum, who presided the meeting.
The ICF also provided two workshops: one on “he Western Media’s Impact on the Developing World” led by Dr. Jara Moserova, Czech author and playwright and Member of the General Council of UNESCO; and the other on “Who Influences the Media, and the Citizen’s Response” taken by a panel including a publisher, a best-selling author, a free-lance journalist and a magazine editor.
The ICF’s General Assembly was held during the Conference. It reviewed the previous year’s work. but was principally concerned with future events and the running costs of the operational base. The Forum has been invited to present five sessions at the forthcoming congress of the Eastern Economic Forum at Kyrenica in Poland in September; it will be associated with Caux Initiatives for Business at a conference in India with the main theme of “The Quest for Values-Centred Leadership in an Era of Globalisation” in November and plans a launching event for the newly established United States Chapter, probably at Boston in the Spring. It is hoped that new dates can soon be announced for the postponed conference in Beirut.
An urgent discussion took place on the need for secure and immediate funding of the forum’s overhead costs connected with administration, travel and participation at major media events of the leading press and broadcasting organizations. New plans were proposed related to membership and the Assembly appeals to its activists and benefactors to contribute financial and working support.
The ICF affirmed its determination to build a media that merited public confidence:
based on the highest standards of personal behaviour and balanced reporting and comment on the part of print and broadcasting professionals