New Press Council set up in Estonia

Tallinn, July 29, 2002. The Estonian Newspaper Association (EALL) has created a new voluntary self-regulatory Press Council to handle complaints from the public about press ethical aspects of material in the press. The Press Council of Estonia (Pressinõukogu in Estonian) replaces the former press council (Avaliku Sõna Nõukogu), from which the Newspaper Association withdrew earlier in the year over disagreements concerning its leadership and management style.

The new 9-member Press Council, which met for the first time at the end of June, elected Mr Sulev Valner, editor-in-chief of the Maaleht weekly newspaper, as its chairman.

The failure of the old press council to continue as a self-regulatory body taught a lesson to the Newspaper Association that there should be no institutional membership of a press ethics council. Lay institutional members, such as the Consumer Protection Association or the Council of Churches, as well as broadcast organizations, failed to understand the concerns of the newspaper industry over the declining authority of the press council in the eyes of newspaper editors. So the new Press Council will function as a unit at the Newspaper Association while drawing members both from the newspaper industry as well as from outside.