CIoJ warns Met over Filkin report


CIoJ PRESS RELEASE 9 JANUARY 2012 The Chartered Institute of Journalists has written to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, urging caution against over-zealous application of the Filkin

Journalists condemn ads on BBC


CIoJ PRESS RELEASE 9 JANUARY 2012 Plans to allow advertising on the BBC World Service have been condemned as a damaging precedent - and likely to prove "the thin end of the wedge" for BBC

CALL FOR LEVESON INQUIRY EVIDENCE


Members of the Institute, and indeed all journalists, are urged to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.  This is your time to speak up about practices you have come across or incidents that you

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International

“Live to Tell” – Invitation to debate safety of journalists

Posted on October 28, 2010 by CIoJ in International, News | Leave a comment

The International News Safety Institute (INSI) invites you to a critical debate on the safety of journalists under current and future threat.

INSI, a non-profit charity backed by a unique coalition of concerned news organisations, humanitarian groups and individual journalists, seeks to help colleagues survive all kinds of hostile environments, from killings and kidnappings to warfare and natural disasters. It is the only journalist organisation in the world solely focused on safety.

In the past seven years the threats have multiplied and circumstances surrounding reporting have changed. Technology takes journalists ever closer to danger, citizen journalism and the new media expose many newcomers to the threats the professionals have long faced, the Internet makes journalists dispensable to criminal groups that once needed them for publicity, kidnapping has proliferated — and impunity for the killers of journalists has encouraged more of the same.

INSI is reorganising to better address the issues. It aims to strengthen its regional ties to areas where many journalists work in daily danger, such as South East Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, while reinforcing its global information and safety training work.

It is holding a series of safety debates with leading media practitioners to focus on and analyse the issues of today – and prepare for tomorrow.

The next discussion will be in Athens, Greece, on 10 November 2010, the day before the annual News Xchange broadcaster convention. The event, Live To Tell, will be held at the Foreign Press Association 23, Academias Street Athens from 1000 to 1530. It will be followed by INSI’s Annual General Meeting at which members will be asked to approve a new Constitution to carry the organisation forward.

Keynote speaker is David Schlesinger, Editor-in-Chief of Reuters. He will be joined by Oliver Vujovic, Secretary-General of the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), Gavin Rees, Director of Dart Centre Europe, Reuters Chief Photographer Yannis Behrakis and other major press and broadcast figures.

The event will be presented by global media figure Elizabeth Filippouli, former presenter and correspondent for ERT, CNN and Al Jazeera.

Please come and add your experience and voice to help shape a safer future for journalists around the world.

RSVP by 30 October 2010 to:

Rodney Pinder, Director, email: rodney.pinder@newssafety.org

INSTITUTE MEMBERS VISIT BRUSSELS INSTITUTIONS

Posted on July 6, 2010 by CIoJ in International, Membership, Membership benefits, News | Leave a comment

21 -23 June, 2010

Several Pandora’s boxes were opened up to members of the CIoJ who went on an information visit to Brussels in mid-June. Members went on a three-day visit to NATO, SHAPE and some of the European Union institutions. They had useful meetings with senior officials and informed specialists at each institution visited.

Members of the CIoJ visiting Brussels – 2010

The visit concentrated on the defence of Europe and on how the different institutions co-operate to ensure Europe’s security.

Organised by CIoJ Brussels representative John Szemerey, the visit was made possible by specially low prices offered by Eurostar and by the Adagio aparthotel in central Brussels, and by the generosity of the European Parliament and NATO which gave grants to members of the visiting group to help them with costs.

At or after the visit most of the institutions to which the group went offered to put CIoJ members on their mailing lists relating to different policy areas so they could follow developments in the EU and at NATO and SHAPE in fields that interested them and on which they normally write or report.

The CIoJ visit included a whole day at NATO, meeting senior officials and also having a discussion session with a panel of three top members of the UK mission to NATO. This was followed by a half day visit to SHAPE at Mons, in South Belgium. SHAPE is the military organisation that in fact executes most NATO decisions.

In the EU institutions the visiting group had meetings with spokesmen for the new President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, and of the new EU Foreign Minister, Catherine Ashton, officially known as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The visit finished with half a day at the European Parliament thanks to Sarah Ludford MEP, who officially sponsored the CIoJ’s visit and to our affiliate member, Mary Honeyball, MEP, who helped arrange a session with representatives of five of the EP’s political groups.

“Three days in Brussels is too short to see and hear everything,” says the outgoing chairman of the CIoJ’s international division, John Szemerey, “but it showed us some key changes in the EU, following the Lisbon Treaty. And we saw how NATO and SHAPE have altered their policies and activities following the end of the Cold War to continue protecting Europe from external attacks, either by force or via the internet.”

IPI to Hold International Conference on Terrorism, Media and the Law

Posted on August 10, 2009 by CIoJ in International, News, Training | Leave a comment

5 August, VIENNA. The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network for a free media, and the Salzburg-based Center for International Legal Studies (CILS), announce the international conference, “The War on Words – Terrorism, Media and the Law,” to be held in Vienna, Austria, from 5-6 October 2009.

The two-day conference will bring together leading journalists, lawyers, human rights advocates, and security and counter-terrorism experts from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa to discuss the impact of the fight against terrorism on civil liberties, in particular freedom of expression and press freedom.

Panel sessions will focus on government efforts to broaden their law enforcement powers in the name of security, the watchdog role of the media, and the relationship between freedom of expression and religious tolerance.

“This conference will provide a welcome forum to discuss the complexities of the fight against terrorism and the effects on media freedom,” said conference coordinator Michael Kudlak. “Have attempts by Western governments to broaden their law enforcement powers in the name of security curtailed civil liberties and muzzled the media? Have they set a negative example for autocratic regimes to emulate? Do anti-terror measures affect the ability of the media to carry out its watchdog role?”

Sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), among others, the conference will be held at the prestigious Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.

For further information, or to register, visit the conference webpage: www.freemedia.at/waronwords

or contact:

Michael Kudlak

Senior Conference Coordinator

Tel: +43 1 – 512 90 11

Cell: + 43-676-425 90 14

E-mail: mkudlak@freemedia.at

www.freemedia.at