Organisations

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) this weekend formally endorsed the appointment of Brazilian journalist and union activist Elisabeth Costa as the new General Secretary to replace Aidan White who is standing down at the end of this month after 24 years in the post. Elisabeth Costa is a veteran campaigner for union rights and press freedom in Latin America and has been a leading...

Key board members of the World Editors Forum (WEF) have resigned their posts and re-grouped to form a new international network for editors from all mediums in response to the rapid acceleration of media convergence. The Global Editors Network (GEN), to be headed by former WEF president Xavier Vidal-Folch, deputy director of the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais, will be launched on March 23. Both...

Al-Jazeera has launched a new Transparency Unit website parallelly to the release of almost 1,700 leaked documents relating to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, according to journalism.co.uk. The new platform enables the public to submit content to the broadcaster such as documents, photos, audio and video clips, and story tip-offs, to be reviewed by its editorial team for potential coverage...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has launched an ad campaign in support of independent media that provide North Koreans with news and information. A campaign graphic with the image of a crumpled photo of Kim Jong-il is being carried by the Korean news portal http://kr.yahoo.com/. It will be visible for the next two weeks to millions of Korean Internet users. Recent...

UNESCO and Al-Jazeera Satellite Network have signed an agreement to promote freedom of expression and access to information in the Arab world. UNESCO’s Director-General Irina Bokova and Al-Jazeera’s Director-General, Wadah Khanfar, signed the Memorandum of Understanding in Doha (Qatar) during Bokova’s official visit to the country. “This agreement advances a new kind of partnership UNESCO is...

Heads of state and high-ranking officials representing 55 participating states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) must urge the current OSCE chair, Kazakhstan, to make good on its press freedom commitments when they meet in Astana for a regional summit this week, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said today. CPJ has repeatedly asked the OSCE to ensure that...

In a constitutional board meeting on Monday, following IPI’s 59th General Assembly, IPI’s Executive Board reconstituted itself, appointing as new Chairman Prof Carl-Eugen Eberle, Director of Legal Affairs, ZDF German Television, Germany. Prof Eberle takes over from former IPI Chairman Janne Virkkunen, Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland, who had held the position since June 2008. The newly...

Two journalism organisations in the US are joining forces to promote stronger international news coverage. The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University said Tuesday that it is forming a partnership with the Pulitzer Centre on Crisis Reporting to support international reporting initiatives. The collaboration will include a special focus on global health coverage. Journalists from the...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has launched a new project in the Pacific designed to strengthen the role of media workers and press freedom advocates in defending and promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms in the region. Media for Democracy and Human Rights in the Pacific, which is supported by the European Union and UNESCO, aims to bring together an enduring coalition...

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has been forced to call off the World Newspaper Congress and postpone the World Editors Forum, planned for Beirut from June 7 to 10, due to the failure of the Lebanese host organisation to meet its financial commitments. "It is with immense disappointment that we are forced to call off our events in Beirut, but it was simply...