26th April 2016
By Stefanie Chernow

Ethical Journalism Network Newsletter – 28 April 2016

 

News

Defending Media Freedom in the Arab World: A debate on WPFD

Next week the International Federation of Journalists will be marking World Press Freedom Day by co-hosting an event in Casablanca on how best to protect media freedom and journalists’ rights in the Arab region.

On the programme are two key papers for debate, the first a declaration on the principles of media freedom and the second a draft proposal for establishing the mandate of a special rapporteur to be appointed to monitor and report on all violations of press freedom and journalists rights.

Read the full article here. (IFJ)

The Ethical Journalism Network is one of the many organisations involved in the initiative.

New Media Ethics Code Welcomed in Montenegro

Journalists in Montenegro have agreed on a revised Code of Ethics, which could help the country’s media – sharply divided between anti- and pro-government outlets, raise their standards.

The revised code was prepared by a six-member group consisting of representatives of the independent media outlets Dan,Vijesti and Monitor as well as the national Media Self-Regulation Body.

The process lasted about a year and was conducted under the auspices of the OSCE and the Council of Europe.

The new code sets new rules for online commenting, privacy issues, reporting on children, conflicts of interest, transparency, plagiarism and reporting from political rallies.

Read the full article here. (Balkan Insight)

You can download the new journalists code of ethics in Montenegro from the OSCE website.

EFJ General Meeting backs BiH in fight for professional rights

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) General Meeting in Sarajevo this week strongly supported the Journalists Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in its battle to raise professional standards and to strengthen the solidarity between the journalists both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and across Europe.

Read the article here. (European Federation of Journalists)

7th UNAOC Global Forum puts Migration and Media in the forefront

Migration and Media were the focus of a number of the breakout sessions at the 7th UNAOC Global Forum this week. Migration and Media, two of the four pillars of activities for UNAOC, are seen as two key elements of enhancing intercultural understanding and building inclusive societies.

“The promotion of just, peaceful, and inclusive societies requires overcoming challenges related to migration”, says United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser. “The media is one key actor in moving forward to the goal of an inclusive society.” Both Migration and Media are two of the four pillars, which the UNAOC activities focus on.

UK news agency asks reporters to ‘weigh up potential fallout’ of stories about clients of its PR wing

Reporters at the UK’s largest independent news agency have been asked to “weigh up whether running a story is worth the potential fall-out to the PR side of the business”.

Read the full article here. (Press Gazette)

A serious problem the news industry does not talk about

Ask anyone working in a newsroom what they think of their audience, and you’ll hear a variety of answers. Over the past couple of years, Jennifer Brandel and Andrew Haeg have been asking that very question of hundreds of reporters, editors and producers in newsrooms around the world. What they’re saying points to a very serious problem:

The culture of journalism breeds disdain for the people we’re meant to be serving, i.e., the audience.

Read the full article here. (Medium)

UK Press Recognition Panel seeks views on whether the recognition system is achieving its aims

The Press Recognition Panel (PRP) has launched a public call for information to gather views on the extent to which the recognition system has succeeded in its aim.

The independent PRP was created under a Royal Charter following the Leveson Inquiry as part of a new system of regulatory oversight to ensure the freedom of the press whilst also protecting the interests of the public. The PRP’s role is to consider applications from press regulators who want to be recognised as approved regulators. In September 2015 the PRP announced that regulators could apply to the PRP for recognition, if they wished to do so.

The PRP’s Royal Charter requires the PRP to report annually on any success or failure of the recognition system. The PRP Board will fulfil this requirement when it publishes its first State of Recognition Report in September 2016.

In producing this report, the PRP wishes to consider the full range of views and perspectives of people and organisations with an interest in or affected by the PRP’s work. Anyone wishing to share information with the PRP can do so until 12 June 2016.

Details of the call for information are available on the PRP’s website.

Materials

Modern Media in International Conflict Course (The Hague, December 2016)

December 14-16, 2016 Lowlands Solutions Netherlands (LSN) will be presenting a three-day, 24 hours, course on Modern Media in International conflict at the Park Hotel in The Hague, the Netherlands.

This three-day (24-hour) program will provide the attendee with a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon of the use of Modern Media, basic techniques of persuasion, framing, embedded journalism and agenda-setting of the big international operating news operations like CNN, BBC, NBC, AFP, Russia Today (RT), Al-Jazeera and Al- Arabya. In the course we will also focus on the way (terrorist) organizations like the Islamic State (ISIS), AQAP and AQIM are using Social Media for recruitment, ideological purposes and psychological warfare.

Registrations

In previous courses we received registrations from Bosnia, Canada, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Tuition Fee

Tuition fee: 879 euros (ex VAT), course enrolment via [email protected]. For additional inquiry: [email protected]

Lecturers

The following speakers were programmed in previous courses: Cor Snijders, Fouad El Haji, Paolo de Mas, Willem Post and Nawaf Abdelhay-Altamimi (UK).

Student Comments

Hope you will be able to continue with these programs that proved to be really useful for media members and other active professionals.” Liudas Dapkus, UAB Lrytas, Lithuania, May 2015.

A lovely conference. I learned a lot!” Meerah Haq, Toronto University, Canada, May 2015.

I enjoyed the course very much and especially liked the opportunity to engage with both media experts and media practitioners. I also valued the contributions of the other students, who brought a wide range of experience to the table. Highly recommended.” Tristan James Mabry, Naval Graduate School, Department of National Security Affairs, United States, May 2015.

The lecturers were true experts and I enjoyed listening to them to a point were I planned to write a report or start a project this Summer on the influence of ISIS in Europe, especially on the Balkans. So these three days made me more interested in the ‘IS-issue’.” Drazen Huterer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Balkan Service, Bosnia-Herzegovina, May 2015.

Activities

World Press Freedom Day – May 3rd 2016

For World Press Freedom Day 2016 the Ethical Journalism Network will be taking part in UNESCO’s celebrations of World Press Freedom Day with a series of events in Helsinki, Finland.

For more details follow us on Twitter and look out for our press release on Friday.

‘Ethical Journalism and Self-regulation’ – Federation of African Journalists Congress – 29-30 April 2016 – Abuja, Nigeria

The Ethical Journalism Network’s board member, Racheal Nakitare, Chief Producer for television at the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation will be giving a keynote speech on ‘Ethical Journalism and Self-regulation’ on the first day of the Federation of Journalists conference in Abuja, Nigeria.

Background on the ‘Access to Information and Ethical Journalism’ session:

This session speaks to the many plans of action in Africa on the right to access to information in Africa. What has been achieved, and what are the challenges? Access to information should expand the space for media coverage of elections, good governance, and the social issues such as health, education, poverty and migration facing the continent. What is the media’s role, and how does ethical journalism impact on governance and the political dispensation in Africa?

Read more about the FAJ congress here (EJN)

European Federation of Journalists Annual Meeting – Sarajevo 2016

From 25-26 April 2016 the Ethical Journalism Network’s Communications Officer, Tom Law, attended the annual General Meeting of the European Federation of Journalists in Sarajevo. The meetings were addressed by Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, who spoke of the threats against the press and media freedoms; attacks on journalists; impunity for the perpetrators; political hate speech and propaganda.

Journalism must take a lead in countering hate-speech, extremism and propaganda around migration

On April 21st April the Ethical Journalism Network’s director, Aidan White, attended a meeting at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva as part of a new initiative to tackle hate speech, extremism and propaganda particularly on the issue of migration.

Read the EJN’s press release on the event here. (EJN)