Ethical Journalism Network Newsletter – 25 August 2016
EJN among international press freedom groups awarded by Turkish journalists
The Journalists Association of Turkey (TGC) on 18 August gave a 2016 Press Freedom Award to a coalition of international organisations, including the Ethical Journalism Network,to recognise the efforts of that have been working together to defend independent journalism against the erosion of press freedom Turkey.
The International Press Institute, first organised the coalition’s press freedom mission to Turkey in October 2015 in the run-up to parliamentary elections last year. As pressure on independent journalists increased the coalition showed solidarity with Turkish colleagues by raising awareness of the deteriorating press freedom situation internationally.
Along with representatives from the other organisations, including Kadri Gürsel the chair of IPI’s Turkey National Committee, Erol Önderoğlu accepted the award on behalf of the Ethical Journalism Network. Gürsel, who is also an IPI Executive Board Member, noted that collective action will continue to be essential as pressure on independent media increases with the emergency measures put in place following the failed coup attempt in July.
Read the full article here. (EJN)
The Syrian community in Bulgaria wants the state authorities to investigate the growing number of xenophobic media articles that denigrate refugees and migrants.
Read the full article here. (Balkan Insight)
For more on how Bulgarian media cover migration read our report – A study in media sensationalism.
Imran Azam, organiser of The Art of Filming Meetup group, explains how he taught a group of refugees to tell their own stories using their smartphones.
Read the full article here. (journalism.co.uk)
Refugees often lose professions as well as homelands. The Refugee Journalism Project in London is helping new arrivals to find work, rebuild careers and revive their skills in a new environment.
Read the full article here. (News Deeply)
In public, Palestinian officials seem to agree that freedom of the press is essential. Yet journalists continue to be harassed, imprisoned and subjected to violence by Palestinian security services.
Read the full article here. (Al-Monitor)
Few images have captured the peculiar horrors of the war in Syria more powerfully than the photograph and short video that emerged recently showing five-year-old Omran Daqneesh sitting in an ambulance after being rescued from the aftermath of an airstrike in Aleppo.Within minutes of the video (reportedly filmed on August 17 by photojournalist Mustafa al-Sarout) being uploaded by the Aleppo Media Centre the images were being shared on social media and gaining the attention of Western newsrooms. As the Financial Times reported, 24 hours after the original YouTube report was posted, it had had 350,000 views and been shared thousands of times.
Read the full article here. (The Conversation)
As part of the government’s laudable efforts to help the media industry become more self-reliant, self-important, self-righteous and self-censored, the Ministry of Misinformation and Newspeak has decided to require all those desirous of pursuing a journalism career to first get a license by passing a test to be conducted by the Nepal Press Counsellors. It is a tough exam, but once through we can confidently tell everyone: “Forgive us our press passes.” As a service to Nepali media and to help aspiring journalists, we reproduce below the leaked question paper in which examinees can answer objective questions subjectively.
Read the full (tongue in cheek) article here. (Nepali Times)
A reporter from Burundi representing a collective of mostly anonymous journalists reporting from their violence-wracked country has won the 2016 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism, organisers said Monday.
Read the full article here. (Reporters Without Borders [RSF])
Police officer rode in Denver stations’ helicopter during search.
Read the full article here. (dailycamera.com)
The hostility of Bulgarian Social Media users towards refugees is intensifying, according to a new study by Media Analysis provider Perceptica. It covers over 170,000 mentions in Mainstream and Social Media sources from January – June 2016 and builds upon a previous study from the second half of 2015. The volume of conversation increased by 55% in the first half of 2016 compared to the second half of 2015, while the share of negative mentions increased by 13 percentage points, going from 47% to 60%.
Read the full article here. (SeeNews)
Activities
Palestine journalists adopt programme to improve media ethics
On a visit to Ramallah this week the EJN’s director, Aidan White, met with Palestinian journalists to discuss how to counter hate speech, improve media ethics, safeguard press freedom, and end the arbitrary detention of journalists