Press Releases

On behalf of the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Nicos Anastasiades, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you participating at the 14^th International Conference “Terrorism and Electronic Media”.

I wish at the outset to convey the President’s sincere appreciation for the Academy’s decision to host and organise this important Conference in Cyprus, which is with distinct honour and privilege that he decided to hold under his high auspices.

As you are probably well-aware, a meeting between President Anastasiades and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Mrs Jane Hall Lute, is currently taking place, and as a result the President is not able to attend the Conference.

Terrorism, ladies and gentlemen, is an international scourge and, as such, it demands global cooperation in fighting it and alleviating its effects on our people and societies. Nothing justifies terrorism, whatever the circumstances. It must be rooted out and can never be tolerated.

Unfortunately, sometimes the measures adopted by states to tackle terrorism have themselves often posed serious challenges and problems to human rights and the rule of law.

In the modern era, media has become a very strong entity with a pivotal role in shaping public opinion.

As the fourth pillar of democracy, media nowadays has also an embracing role to act in combating terrorism. Determining this role, as well as the relation between media and terror acts, is quite a difficult task and a complex issue.

The freedom of Press is considered as one of the most important cornerstones of a democracy, and as Mr Jan Eliasson, former UN Deputy Secretary-General, once said: “Freedom of the media is a defence against terrorist discourse”.

In the long history of terrorism, spreading fear and anxiety through societies has always been one of its main objectives. By using modern means and technology, terrorism exploited the opportunities presented by media and provided terror groups with important communication instruments, with the social media being widely utilised.

Cyber-terrorism was one of the main topics raised and discussed for the first time here in Cyprus, within the framework of this Conference organised by the International Academy of Television and Radio in the past, in which ways and instruments of countering terrorism in the internet were addressed and various solutions were introduced and promoted.

Media publicity in general can be seen as a critical element in terrorist strategy, both in achieving their goals as well as influencing the success of these strategies. Countering terrorism, ladies and gentlemen, ranks highly among the Government’s priorities, at national, regional and international level, as it remains one of the main challenges we are facing today, a challenge that needs to be addressed collectively.

However, the role of the media has not always been detrimental. To the contrary, through a more careful and strategic approach, media can actually become a valuable tool which can be used in combating terrorism.

Indeed, whenever media conducts itself in a responsible manner and keeps defending basic democratic norms, then it positively exercises its social responsibility and demonstrates a supportive role in the global fight against terrorism.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In closing, I would like to congratulate the Chairman and the board of the International Academy of Television and Radio for the exceptional work carried out by the organisation and for your continuous efforts in reinforcing media credibility and in expanding creative interaction between all stakeholders within the electronic media sphere.

Please allow me, dear participants, to convey once again the President’s best wishes for most productive deliberations in the Conference.

Thank you.

(RM/AH)