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2 May 2017
           
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2017
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. 
Today the International Centre for Migration Policy Development published a study asking "How does the media on both sides of the Mediterranean report on Migration?" The contributions from journalists and academics from 17 countries in Europe, Middle East and North Africa were brought together by the EJN at the end of last year. I will be talking about the conclusions and recommendations tomorrow at the International Press Institute's panel discussion on "Media coverage and public perceptions of refugees and migrants". Tune in to watch via the UNESCO live webcast at 0915 GMT.  
 
Tom Law - EJN Director of Campaigns and Communications
RECENT ACTIVITIES

"One Island, One Profession"

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.

Read a full summary of the event here. 

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.

Read a full summary of the event here. 

MIGRATION REPORTING
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/
TRUST IN JOURNALISM

- Fergus Bell has collated a list of initiatives that hope to fix trust in journalism and tackle “fake news” in this medium post.
Fact checking is changing the way readers think, but continues to face great challenges
 (#ISOJ2017)

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."
AFRICA
ETHIOPIA: Eskinder Nega named IPI Press Freedom Hero (IPI)
KENYA: FACT CHECK: How to spot fake news on Social Media (KTN)

SOUTH AFRICA: The state of South African journalism: There’s good news and there’s bad news (The Conversation)
SOUTH AFRICA: Press Council Executive Director Joe Thloloe Appeals Huffington Post Hate Speech Ruling (HuffPost)
SOUTH AFRICA: Via the excellent AfricaCheck newsletter: "Now for the 3rd time, The Spectator has tweeted a false rape statistic about South Africa. (If you want to know more about this topic, read our guide to rape statistics in South Africa)"
TANZANIA: Tanzania leader's aside on 'limits' of freedom raises fears (IPI)
AMERICAS
COLOMBIA: The bet on fact checking: journalists create more initiatives to verify public discourse and reveal false news (Knight Center)
US: After 100 days, the media are still embarrassing themselves covering Trump. Just not as much (Washington Post)
ASIA-PACIFIC
INDIA: Is being neutral an insensitive act? (The Hindu)
INDONESIA: Pressure on Indonesia as World Press Freedom Day looms (Asian Correspondent)
MYANMAR: Press Council warns crime reporters’ association against unethical behaviour (Frontier Myanmar)
EUROPE
FRENCH: A French journalist is bringing fact checks to millions using Facebook Live and his own two feet (Poynter)  
GERMANY: 
A draft law to counter hate speech would threaten freedom of expression (EFJ)
MACEDONIA: It is high time to stop violence against journalists! (EFJ) 
UK: UK falls down world press freedom rankings thanks to Snooper's Charter, Espionage Act and Section 40 threats (Press Gazette)
UKRAINE: "Free, but not Independent": Voice of America's Myroslava Gongadze on the challenges ahead for news media in Ukraine (CIMA) 
MIDDLE EAST
AFP publishes its ethics guidelines in Arabic / ميثاق وكالة فرانس برس
On 10 January 2017 the EJN published Ethics in the News, which looks at how media covered the UK vote to leave the European Union, the Trump election and the influence of fake news. We hear about the assault on free expression in Turkey, and the information war between India and Pakistan. The report examines the rise of hate speech, particularly in Asia, including a glossary for hate in Hong Kong. In Africa, we learn about the EJN’s ‘Turning the Page of Hate campaign. Media are warned that there is no honour in the so-called “honour killings” in Pakistan. We also hear about the success of the Panama Papers and get advice on how to deal with sources from the journalist that helped Edward Snowden reveal the secrets of United States’ global surveillance and snooping. It also features a thoughtful examination of how we use images to tell stories about migration.
 

New Translations of Hate Speech Test and Migration Coverage Guidelines


The EJN's 5-point test for hate speech is now available in: HungarianRomanian, Russian and Spanish

The EJN's Migration Reporting Guidelines in
HungarianRomanian, Russian and Spanish.

Download both infographics in more languages
from our website. 


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
ETHICS IN THE NEWS

Read about the report in Bosnian:

Read about the report in German:

Read about the report in Italian:

Read about the report in Spanish:

Other coverage of the Ethics in the News:

Other coverage:
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