The 2nd European Media Freedom Conference is taking place at the Media Campus Villa Ida (Leipzig School of Media) of Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig.
After our inaugural conference in 2015 the this year´s focus is on the topic of "working together for independent journalism – powerful journalism networks".
The conference wraps up a series of major press freedom events in 2016. Set against the backdrop of newly-elected governments, restrictive media legislation and multifaceted threats to journalists across Europe, the conference provides insight in the current debates on freedom of expression and independent journalism.
Speakers and participants from all over Europe and a variety of backgrounds (such as media law, academia, independent media outlets, the political sphere etc.) will contribute to the discussions, making the conference the "place to be" for an update on press and media freedom this autumn.
Attending organisations are: ECPMF, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso (OBC), Journalismfund.eu, Ossigeno per l´ Iinformazione, South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), Index on Censorship and many others.
The conference language is English.This panel is produced in co-operation with Engagement Global Leipzig branch
https://www.engagement-global.de/
When western Europe reports on world events, who better than recent migrants from those countries in the news headlines to provide information, comments and insights?
Who indeed?
Perhaps editors should also recruit reporters and writers with a migration background.
They know the language and culture of those newsworthy places and also have near-native competency in the language of their home country. They bring in perspectives and facts which otherwise would not be talked about in the news media. They have access to sources journalists without a migrant background would most likely not have.
Yet recent migrants and first or second generation immigrants form a tiny minority of the voices and faces in our daily news media. This means we must rely on coverage from international news agencies and humanitarian/developmental NGOs, which have their own agendas.
Meanwhile many thousands of refugee and migrant journalists are unemployed, or underemployed, and their close contacts with people in the countries affected are not being used.
What is to be done? This panel and world cafe debate discusses positive and negative examples of co-operation with journalists with a migration background, and practical solutions to challenges the news media currently faces.
Each panel speaker makes a presentation for seven minutes. Then we break into small groups, with each group tackling a specific question before resuming the plenary session to plot practical initiatives for the future.
And we introduce the ECPMF Experts from Elsewhere register, a new listings service that brings together our own in-country specialists and international journalists network in one downloadable document. This handbook will quickly become a newsroom essential, since it offers experts from across the world with a range of specialist expertise who are available to European editors. All panel participants are encouraged to sign up for the register.
The panel:
· Fatima Manji, Channel Four News (UK)
· Sevgi Akarcesme, Today's ZAMAN (Turkey)
· Ola Aljari (Syria), ECPMF’s refugee journalist
· Marc Wadsworth (UK), Citizen Journalism Education Trust
Rapporteurs in world cafe (please choose one table):
Table 1: How to encourage responsible reporting of refugees and resist governmental interference? Balázs Nagy Navarro, (based in Budapest, Hungary)
https://ecpmf.eu/news/ecpmf/archive/hungary-time-to-speak-up-for-press-freedom
Table 2: What about training? Dennis Reineck, Deutsche Welle Akademie (Berlin, Germany)
Table 3: What are the legal responsibilities of employers in Europe with regard to discrimination? Gianna Iacino, EMR (based in Saarbrücken, Germany)
Table 4: How can journalists work with media workers from migration backgrounds to ensure fair and accurate coverage? Vesselin Dmitrov, Forbes Bulgaria (based Sofia, Bulgaria)
https://ecpmf.eu/news/ecpmf/foreign-media-shame-bulgarias-refugee-hunters
Moderator: Rebecca Roth, NDM (New German Media Makers based in Berlin)
