By Vestnik Kavkaza
The founding conference of the All-Russian Congress of Ethno-Journalists "World Culture" was held in Moscow. The organization is founded by ethnic mass media companies which work in Russia and believe that their problems are ignored or misinterpreted by the central periodicals.
Farhat Patiev, president of the FNCA of Kurds of the Russian Federation
Journalists are not only the eyes and ears of society, but also the tongue of society. Journalism is very complex and very subtle, and therefore many things, including the future of this country, depend on the development of journalism in the country. When we are talking about ethno-journalism in such a multinational country as Russia, it should be understood that this imposes a great responsibility on all of us here. Of course, many would argue, saying that journalists don't write about things that society needs, or they incite hatred, there are such allegations. But this is primarily an indicator of our moral development. Of course, among the power structures and all the people there are those who can resist free journalism, though this is a very important activity. Believe me, dumb, deaf and blind people are unable to feel confident. Likewise, a deaf, blind and dumb society cannot feel confident, and a country with such a society cannot move on, cannot develop, and cannot feel confident on the domestic arena.
Sergei Kuchinski, chairman of the executive committee of the Councilof the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia
Life in multinational Russia is much richer, more varied, more interesting and more complex than, unfortunately, it appears in the media. We do not know the culture and history of each other. We do not know the outstanding cultural and scientific personalities, wonderful eminent people representing our great multi-ethnic country. Today one of the most important tasks is to tell more about these people and about the positive. Today, more than ever, perhaps, we need creative uniting images… There are Houses of the Friendship of the Peoples - and why do the media write only a little about it, reflect a little? And very little is written about what good things in our lives take place in our multi-ethnic country.
Lucy Ghukasyan, vice president of the Union of Armenians in Russia
Today the situation, including the national environment, is determined by the federal media, federal channels. And if they find some levers of cooperation and establish contacts, being able to cover problems of nationalities, ethnic groups, to reach the federal level so that people have the opportunity to get information, not just telling each other about ourselves, our wonderful traditions, our tolerance and so on, and that the country was able to receive this information. According to one of our American colleagues, we are now drowning in a sea of information and suffocating from lack of knowledge. In society there is a lack of knowledge about each other and about the culture of ethnic groups living in the territory of our country.
Saidhamzat Gerikhanov, member of the Organizing Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Ethno-Journalists
Unfortunately, we live in a country that in recent years has been shaken by ethnic conflicts. They occur not only in Moscow. Unfortunately, it has affected many cities in Russia. And, very unfortunately, I repeat, this is largely the fault of journalists themselves, who warm up ethnic passions and do not understand the responsibility for every word, do not understand their role in this process.
Roman Agayev, journalist
Azerbaijani media here in Russia try to contribute to the general background of goodwill and peace; we believe it is important to strengthen it in Russia. If you look at the very idea that literally every one of the speakers praised, indeed, for its positive features, you can see the opposite when at such important meetings, unfortunately, there are not any representatives of the Russian federal TV channels, and so on. This already indicates that any society's priorities are set in line with what is actually presented to the public and dictated to it as "interesting things". In fact, society is not uniform, and in many ways society wants to avoid some kind of radicalism, especially in international relations, and to hear good, useful advice that we hear here, rather than what we actually hear from morning to evening on television, on federal channels. I want us to be a force having certain power and to try to oppose, even if it is necessary, our work, our efforts and our ideas to pretty tendentious information from the federal mass media, which is trying to be presented as a kind of absolute truth.
