UNESCO is going to organise International Conference entitled “News organizations standing up for the safety of media professionals”, which will be held, at UNESCO’s Headquarters on Friday, 5 February, 2016.
The event, supported by UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), will provide news organizations with a platform from which to discuss existing and new measures to strengthen the safety of journalists worldwide, and to engage with Member States on these issues.
Speakers in the two highlevel sessions will include media leaders from around the world and Christiane Amanpour, UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression and Journalist Safety.
The conference is an opportunity for participants to: Brainstorm innovative solutions aimed to strengthen the safety of journalists for both national and international media; Share good practices aimed to enhance the safety of journalists; Discuss the safety of freelance journalists and social media users who produce journalism, Engage with initiatives to strengthen the safety of freelancers and bloggers; Explore ways to strengthen cooperation between news organizations and UN agencies within the framework of the UN Plan, respecting the roles and autonomy of all actors; Explore gaps in training, and how resources needed for safety training can be made available for news organizations of various capacities;
Discuss how news organizations might do ongoing stories around the importance of journalists’ safety and the problem of impunity; Discuss the possibility of using the anniversaries of World Press Freedom, Day (3 May) and International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (2 November) as occasions to cover safety-related issues in a concerted way; through High Level Session 1: Safety of Journalists – Global Problem, Different Manifestations Theme: How can the media industry strengthen safety of journalists worldwide? Round Table A: Good Newsroom Practices,
Themes: Trainings, working conditions, post trauma recovery, Round Table B: Safety for Community and Local Media Theme: Including community & local media into national safety networks, Round Table C: Safety for Freelancers and Social Media Theme: Recognizing the conditions of those who generate journalism without fixed connections to media institutions, and what the media industry’s stake is in their safety and High Level Session 2: Ending Impunity Together Theme: Dialogue between media Industry with the Member.
There also will be contributions from the Permanent Delegates of Member States to UNESCO. In parallel, three interactive round tables will be held, to discuss good newsroom practices, the safety of freelancers, community media and the raising of public awareness.
The conference is being organized in partnership with the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the International Press Institute (IPI) and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF).
It is being supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Australia, Austria, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
