Is broadcasting of parliamentary activities in the public interest? Yes. Why? Because there is a need to create a direct link between citizens and the media, and by so doing, to close the gap between citizens and parliament, the body that represents citizens in their entirety. Citizens must be kept informed and parliaments must reach out to the people. In any democracy, public institutions must be transparent and accountable to the people. Public broadcasting of parliamentary proceedings fosters that transparency and accountability. Those were some of the conclusions of the first ever conference on parliamentary broadcasting convened in October by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments (ASGP). The event attracted some 180 persons from 78 countries.

Public interest and the considerable media coverage of the debates among the three hopefuls to be nominated socialist candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections in France, broadcast by two French parliamentary channels, Public Sénat and La Chaîne Parlementaire, is sufficient proof that a country's political leadership needs to be closer to the people. There is a need to close the gap between citizens and their representatives, at all political levels. The participants at the Geneva Conference therefore stressed the importance of providing more information and increasing coverage of the activities of parliament.

The debates highlighted the fact that the growing interest for broadcasting parliamentary activities and political activities in general should not be perceived as a threat to existing media outlets. Rather, the two are complementary and should foster the growth of news and lend transparency to politics, "because once it is live, nobody can take it away", in the words of the Rapporteur of the Conference, Erik Fichtelius, former Executive Producer and Editor of SVT 24 Direct of Sweden (See his conclusions).

While politics is an interesting field for broadcasters, many questions arise and certain problems need to be addressed. Parliamentary activities are often considered boring. How can these be made more attractive? Who should decide what to broadcast? Should the broadcasting of parliamentary business be controlled by parliament or by independent media? Should it be financed by public funds or by private entities? In a globalized television world, how can parliamentary channels and public broadcasters compete with private television stations? The Geneva Conference provided some responses. Parliamentary channels should not be too worried about ratings. "Outreach" is a far more important concept according to the broadcasting experts present in Geneva. Big news will always attract big audiences. Broadcasting of parliamentary activities should be done in an independent manner, with pluralism (in terms of views and ownership) and free media - elements that lend credibility. The full political process and the goings-on outside the halls of the parliament can also be reflected and the quality of live broadcasting is of paramount importance, in the view of the participants (See list of participants). To support the impact and the development of parliamentary channels, the EBU has suggested creating a forum where parliamentary television stations can exchange the content of their channels with others. One example of cooperation between channels is the partnership agreement signed recently between Public Sénat (France) and C-SPAN (United States).

The Geneva Conference was the beginning of a process. The IPU, EBU and ASGP will examine the modalities of following up the question of broadcasting parliamentary activities.

A video/B-roll prepared by the IPU will be broadcasted tomorrow 21 November 2006, at 8 a.m. GMT, by EBU.

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 148 affiliated parliaments and seven regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.
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Contact for additional information or interviews:

Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer 5, ch. du Pommier, CH - 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex / Geneva Phone: +41 22 919 41 16 Fax: +41 22 919 41 60 E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org