Senior editors shape media reponses to conflict

New Delhi, Mar 30 (UNI) A regional conference on relations between media and terrorism has cautioned against terrorist incidents getting ''excessive and undue'' coverage and also called for adequate protection to journalists working in war zones and other dangerous areas.

Media experts from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, who met here during the past two days for shaping media responses to conflict resolution, called for adopting a balanced and objective approach while reporting terror incidents.

''More and more editors are becoming aware that undue coverage should not be given to certain events,'' the Lahore-based Friday Times editor Najam Sethi said, bringing into sharp focus the negative role that the media could play in contributing to tension between states.

Three separate themes were considered at the seminar that was conducted at the India International Centre in the presence of more than 200 aspiring journalists and teachers from Delhi and beyond.

Addressing the first session on ''modern conflict, international law and state responses to terrorism'', Mr Bruce Oswald, a Law professor at Melbourne University, said the protection afforded to journalists by the Geneva Conventions was clearly inadequate.

''Today there remain a number of challenges and tensions facing journalists working in war zones or dangerous areas, including developing a more effective protection for journalists....'' Mr Siddarth Varadarajan, the award-winning Deputy Editor of The Hindu, was a key speaker at the session that considered ''The media role in humanitarianism - reporting the effects of war on humankind.'' ''It is obvious that the media can and does fan the flame of conflict. It all depends on the degree that the media decides to be professional,'' he said.

More UNI SKS HS BD1552