Greetings from Jakarta where I will be representing the EJN at discussions on migration coverage and hate speech at UNESCO's World Press Freedom Day celebrations this week. To mark the occasion, EJN Director, Aidan White has penned an article on how fake news is not bad journalism but a symptom of the business of communications in the digital age. You can listen to Aidan discuss this at greater length is this Media Masters podcast, where he talks reflectively on his decades-long personal history of journalism and the development of a new ethical culture.
The EJN led a discussion on self-regulation, ethical journalism and ways to improve quality of journalism in Nicosia on 25 April as part of a series of events organised by the OSCE bringing together journalists from the North and South of the island of Cyprus.
Respect Words: Ethical Journalism Against Hate Speech
EJN director, Aidan White, took part in a debate on hate speech in Dublin, Ireland on 11 April 2017 with Michael Foyle of the Nation Union of Journalists-Ireland and Peter Feeney, Ireland’s Press Ombudsman. The event was part of the ‘Respect Words: Ethical Journalism Against Hate Speech' project, which aims to combat racist and xenophobic projections in the European media.
The EJN will be taking part in the Summer School on Forced Migration and Asylum in Bolgna, Italy from 3-8 July 2017. To apply visit http://www.migrationschool.eu/
Lydia Polgreen, editor-in chief of HuffPost, plans to reached the “unnewsed" by developing a connection between news media and audiences. The Knight Centre reports on her interview at the 18th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ). She offered five strategies:
Create proximity: Polgreen suggests journalists have to bridge the gap — if news consumers don’t feel journalists are connected to their lives, it’s hard to trust them.
Build platforms for listening: Polgreen believes listening is essential to journalism. Because research on “unnewsed” people is focused on sociological rather than financial information, news organizations must make listening to their audience a priority.
Put the news consumer in control: News organizations must find a way to give some sort of control to the user, which is why Polgreen believes they should create a blogging platform to encourage the audience to tell their stories in their own way.
Technology doesn’t solve the biggest problem: Although technology changed the way news organizations can interact with their audience, Polgreen argues it cannot solely solve the problem of creating relevance among news consumers.
Emotion, humor, and empathy are vital to attract the “unnewsed: While facts and truth are essential in news, Polgreen argues they are simply not enough. Emotion, humor, and empathy must also be practiced by news organizations.
MEDIA LITERACY - FAKE NEWS - VERIFICATION
Mapping of media literacy practices and actions - EU28
New European Audiovisual Observatory study provides a detailed analysis of the main trends in media literacy across 547 projects implemented across the 28 members of the EU. The summary states that the authors found that "initiatives to develop 'critical thinking' were the most prevalent, followed by 'media use' covering projects which aim to improve our ability to search, find and navigate and use media content and services. Other major findings include the very active role played by civil society with 'extra-curricular projects aimed at 'teens and older students' as the main target demographic for media literacy projects."
Last Week was "Ethics Week" at the Society of Professional Journalists According to the SPJ website: The goal of Ethics Week 2017 is to not only help journalists explain how they ethically cover stories, but to share with the public information about what journalists do, how to identify ethical journalism, where to find it and how to support it. For more details visit https://www.spj.org/ethicsweek.asp or follow #PressForEthics and #SPJProud.
FUNDING & ORGANISING JOURNALISM
Vox Media publisher implores journalists to work together to solve the industry’s problems. Melissa Bell told the 18th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ) that the industry is in desperate need of change.
Journalists suffer violence, intimidation and self-censorship in Europe, says a Council of Europe study
A survey based on a sample of 940 journalists from the 47 countries who are members of the Council of Europe (plus Belarus) finds that "journalists in Europe are often exposed to serious unwarranted interference in their work, including intimidation and violence. As a consequence, many also suffer from fear, which frequently leads to self-censorship."
If you would like to support the Ethical Journalism Network by translating our guidelines into you language contact Tom Law: tom.law@ethicaljournalismnetwork.org
Visit the Accountable Journalism database of codes of media ethics