Ethical Journalism Network Newsletter – 19 May 2016

News

Anti-migration propaganda is filling up Afghanistan’s airwaves, but it is effective?

The Australian government has been criticised for spending up to A$6 million of tax payers’ money on an anti-asylum film that focuses on Afghans. The movie aired on Afghan TV and depicted the dangerous and treacherous journeys people make to only meet exploitative smugglers, deadly waters, and detention centres. The movie has received mixed reviews. The Australian government is not alone in using media campaigns to deter refugees from claiming asylum. In 2015, the German government launched a billboard campaign in Kabul to discourage Afghans fleeing to Europe. Other countries such as Austria, Denmark, and Norway have also launched campaigns against Afghan and Syrian refugees.

Read the full article here. (Open Democracy)

Newspapers must maintain centuries-old standards to thrive says editor

Newspapers must maintain the standards set for “hundreds of years” to thrive in future, according to a regional daily editor. Keith Harrison, who edits Wolverhampton’s Express & Star, has also called on the industry to “embrace the future” and see the changing media landscape as an opportunity, rather than a threat.

Read the full article here. (Hold the Front Page)

EJN Palestine partner celebrates a decade of fighting for press freedom and media ethics

This month (May 2016) marks the first decade since the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms-MADA started operating, and publishing its first report in 2006 about freedoms of media in Palestine. A relatively short period of time passed since the establishment of “MADA” yet this period was full of work and accomplishments, despite all obstacles and challenges, but the will of its employees, founders and board of directors to overcome it.

Read the full article here. (MADA)

MADA joined the EJN earlier this year.

UK regulator shows it has backbone but defiance of Sun editor undermines self-regulation

In one of the most high-profile cases ruled on by the UK’s new self-regulatory body the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) the watchdog found that a headline by the Sun claiming that the ‘QUEEN BACKS BREXIT’ (Britain leaving the European Union was ‘significantly misleading’. However, the Sun’s editor has maintained that says he was right to publish the headline. This lead to the editor of the Press Gazette to conclude that while IPSO has shown it has backbone defiance of the Sun undermines press self regulation.

The ruling was also covered by iMediaEthics: ‘Queen Backs Brexit’ Headline: UK Press Regulator Rules for Queen Elizabeth for 1st time

Donald Trump’s war on the media threatens fundamental American principles—making it crucial that responsible conservatives speak out.

On Saturday, Donald Trump ally and confidante Roger Stone declared that CNN “is not a news organization but an advocacy group” and that “when Donald Trump is president, he should turn off their FCC license.” In any other election year, that would be news. But this cycle, Trump and his campaign have threatened the press in so many unprecedented ways that they’ve overloaded the system. The press itself can’t keep up.

Read the full article here. (The Atlantic)

Experts Share Their Experience, Wisdom of Combating Xenophobia and Hate Speech Online

Experts recommend promoting self-regulation in online communities, enhancing media literacy, developing tolerant speech strategies as effective tools to overcome hate speech and discrimination on the Internet. On May 12-13, the 7^thCentral Asian Forum “Development of Internet Sphere in Central Asia InternetCA-2016” was held in Almaty (Kazakhstan) on the subject “Calls to Counter Destructive Content on the Internet: Xenophobia, Propaganda, Language of Intolerance”. The main topics of the discussion referred to media wars, media manipulations, hate speech, propaganda, differences between the freedom of expression and intolerance, understanding of this ways, in order to avoid the total control of the internet and pressure on freedoms.

Read the full article here. (School of Peacemaking and Media Technology in Central Asia)

Why Trump’s insults of journalists must be taken seriously

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called the mainstream media “crooked” “unfair” “troublemakers” and The New York Times a failing, “SAD!” newspaper “full of boring lies.” Individual reporters are “liars” and “bimbos,” according to his tweets.

Recently, reporter Julia Ioffe found herself at odds with the Trump campaign after she wrote a profile of the candidate’s wife, Melania Trump. Within 24 hours, she picked up her phone to a recording of a Hitler speech, part of a wave of anti-Semitic messages targeted at the journalist, whose family fled to America to escape anti-Semitism in Russia 26 years ago. Other female journalists at odds with the campaign have found themselves in the crosshairs; Trump’s insults against Megyn Kelly and Michelle Fields galvanized online trolls to send thousands of hateful and misogynistic messages, according to reports and analysis by digital news outlet Vocativ.

Read the full article here. (CPJ)

Activities

Immigration Journalism Award

For the fifth year, the French-American Foundation will recognize the work of two journalists – one based in North America, the other in Europe – for best immigration reporting in 2015-2016. One award is given for reporting in English, and the Prix TF1 is awarded for excellence in immigration coverage in French.

The Awards ceremony will take place in New York this Fall. Representatives from La Fondation TF1 will attend the ceremony to award the annual Prix TF1.

Applying is easy!

Just fill in a form, submit your piece, two work samples and provide contact information for two professional references (no letter of recommendation necessary). All journalism formats are accepted (print, video, photo, etc).

– APPLY HERE –

To learn more about the program, please visit our website or contact Nathalie Bastin at [email protected].

Call for Submissions – SOTU Print Journalists Competition 2016

Nairobi, May 17, 2016 — The State of the Union Coalition (SOTU) calls out for submissions of articles from journalists working in the 10 African countries SOTU has membership; Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Tunisia.

The competition is open to African journalists in the selected countries reporting on Human Rights, Governance and Development issues in the print and digital media field. The deadline for submission is 31st May 2016.

Find attached the call for submission document for more details and pass this on to media networks in your country as prizes will be given per country.

For more information visit http://www.sotu-africa.org/blog/sotu-journalist-competition-2016/
Victor Nyambok | State of the Union (SOTU) Communications Officer

SOTU is collaborating with the African Media Initiative to convene an African Editors’ Roundtable on the African Union in Accra, Ghana, on June 11-12, 2016.

,#BeTheVoice of Africa. Join the My African Union Campaign

Click to Download

Uncovering Security: Emerging Threats

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is launching a programme to support investigative journalism on emerging security stories which have not yet been widely covered in the media. The places are fully-funded, and there is a chance to apply for travel grants to cover particular stories following the event, which takes place in October in the UK.

Details of the programme can be found here: http://news.trust.org/spotlight/uncovering-security/?tab=introduction

The programme is called Uncovering Security: Emerging Threats and is new in 2016. Taking place 19-22 October in the UK, near London, ten journalists and ten researchers will be selected to participate in an expense-paid residential Story Lab where they will have the chance to collaborate and develop stories concerning under-covered emerging threats in specific regions of the world. Following the Lab, journalists will be able to apply for small reporting grants. Subsequent stories will be published in the journalists’ affiliated media outlet, with additional distribution via Reuters’ platform trust.org and the Reuters wire.

Thomson Reuters Foundation are looking for:

o Journalists working for media outlets in the developing world, or the USA, Canada or Germany

o Journalists with at least three years’ experience in journalism

o Journalists with experience covering security situations would be an advantage

o Journalists working in any medium, or multiple media

o They must be fluent in English

European conference marking Statewatch’s 25th anniversary

STATEWATCHING EUROPE

Civil liberties, the state and the European Union

10:00 – 17:00, Saturday 25 June 2016
Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London N7 (map)

For 25 years Statewatch has been working to publish and promote investigative journalism and critical research in Europe in the fields of the state, justice and home affairs, civil liberties, accountability and openness. We invite you to join us in London on 25 June 2016 at our Conference where there will be:

Workshops and discussions on the refugee crisis in the Med and in the EU; mass surveillance; the EU’s crisis of legitimacy and accountability; the policing of protest and criminalisation of communities; racism, xenophobia and the far right; strategies of resistance and the defence of civil liberties.

PROGRAMME: HTML | PDF

Click to Book now:
http://statewatch.org/conference/