28th April 2016
By Stefanie Chernow

Refugee and migrant voices at World Press Freedom Day – 3 May 2016

News

World Press Freedom Day: UNESCO launches new accountable journalism project

Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, UNESCO launched its new Building Trust in media in South East Europe and Turkey project at an event in Helsinki on Monday with the Ethical Journalism Network and other partners. The project seeks to strengthen freedom of expression, access to information, free, independent and pluralistic media in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

Read more about the launch of the project here.

Solidarity and Self-regulation Vital for Independent Journalism in Europe

Solidarity in defence of ethics and self-regulation is the key to building public trust in media Europe’s leading media human rights campaigner told journalists ahead of World Press Freedom Day on Tuesday 3 May.

Dunja Mijatović, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe representative for media freedom, said that self-regulation was the only way media can address issues of accountability, transparency and ensuring press freedom.

Read the full article here.

World Press Freedom Day: Journalism must take a lead in countering hate-speech and propaganda

PRESS RELEASE

World Press Freedom Day: Journalism must take a lead in countering hate-speech and propaganda

Around the world the information crisis is defined by more government surveillance and interference, more corporate snooping and exploitation of personal information and a growing trend of abuse in online speech.

To mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd the Ethical Journalism Network is calling for quality journalism and ethical communications to be promoted in order to counter these dangerous trends.

“Journalists must be free to exercise their profession without a climate of fear and intimidation,” the Ethical Journalism Network’s director, Aidan White, said in a statement.

“Ethical values in media are not marginal to democracy, they are essential to confronting the crisis of self-censorship, propaganda and hateful communications which is emerging around the world.”

Read the full press release here.


EJN Press Contact: Tom Law

Email: [email protected]

Refugee and migrant voices at World Press Freedom Day

To mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3 the Nordic Journalism Centre organised an event for refugee journalists on Monday 2 May in Helsinki so that they could share their experience of attempting to have their voices heard in European media.

Giving refugees and migrants more of a voice and employing refugee journalists were two of the recommendations from the Ethical Journalism Network’s recent Moving Stories report, which reviewed media coverage of migration in 14 countries as well as the European Union.

Read the press release, foreword, introduction and recommendations of the report.

Read highlights of the refugee journalists event here.

World Press Freedom Day: Nordic–Baltic Perspectives on Media and Information Literacy

Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, The National Audiovisual Institute of Finland hosted a conference in Helsinki on Monday to bring together academics and government officials to discuss media literacy.

‘Stark deterioration of press freedom’ in Europe, says Index on Censorship

Campaign group says there has been a 30% rise in incidents involving journalists, voicing particular concern about Turkey and Ukraine.

Read the full article here. (Guardian)

Read the full report here. (Index on Censorship)

How We Can Keep Press Freedom from Withering Away?

While a free press means that a journalist has rights, it does not mean that she or he is right.

Read the full article here. (Inter Press News Agency)

Activities

Countering Hate Speech in the Media through Ethics and Self-Regulation

On 3 May the Ethical Journalism Network’s director, Aidan White, is chairing a panel discussion at UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations in Helsinki, Finland on how to identify and counter hate-speech without creating environments that result in the censorship of legitimate expression.

The session will explore the efforts of press councils and media ombudsmen to create self‐regulatory systems to encourage journalistic ethics in public communications to a larger role in fighting hate speech.


Read the full press release here.

EJN Press Contact: Tom Law

Email: [email protected]


Date:

Tuesday 3 May 2016

Time: 16:15-17:45

Venue: Finlandia Hall, Veranda 4 – Helsinki, Finland

Organisers: International Federation of Journalists | Finnish Union of Journalists | Finnish Council for Mass Media

Moderator: Aidan White, Director, Ethical Journalism Network

Panellists

  • Zuliana Lainez, Secretary General, Asociación Nacional de Periodistas del Perú (Peru)
  • Elina Grundström, Chair, Council for Mass Media in Finland (Finland)
  • Ljiljana Zurovac, Executive Director, Bosnia Herzegovina Press Council (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
  • Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, President, European Federation of Journalists (Denmark)
  • Nezar Patria, Member, Indonesian Press Council (Indonesia)
  • Poni Alice Jame Kolok, Radio and TV Journalist (South Sudan)