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.In times of austerity, states of emergency and digital disruption to the media industries it seems the news is only bad. Thousands of journalists are jobless. Hundreds of thousands others work for low pay or no pay in precarious freelance careers.
But there is hope!
The panel introduces several European funds, funding bodies and shares important "lessons learnt" and solutions. These include experience with crowd-funding, membership organisations, co-operatives etc.
In this world cafe event we share the good news and ask the tough question: can funded journalists be really independent? Does the watchdog dare to bite the hand that feeds it?
