London: Malaria Consortium (MC), the leading malaria non-governmental organisation in Europe, is teaming up with The Guardian newspaper and seven other organisations to launch a unique journalism competition.
The Guardian International Development Journalism Competition was launched today with the financial support of the Department for International Development (DFID). Douglas Alexander, International Development Secretary, says he is looking forward to this competition motivating a new generation of journalists that want to write about some of the most important global issues facing the developing world today.
"They will play a key role in helping to raise awareness and…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to uphold the legal rights of seven journalists who were taken in for questioning by Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) between March 6 and 8. The journalists were not permitted to notify their families of their whereabouts.
The Free Media Movement (FMM), an IFJ affiliate, reported that some of the journalists, most of whom are associated with the news and features website www.outreachsl.com, were held incommunicado for hours.
On March 6, N. Jasiharan, the owner of E-Kwality Printers and a writer for the website, and his partner Valarmathi were arrested by TID…
"The EFJ welcomes the release of the Communication on Creative Content Online in the Single Market and the opportunity it is given to respond to the consultation.
Today, a lot of journalistic works including photographs, films and texts are available online. Some works have been created specifically for online use and some works are re-used online from an analogue primary source.
In its response to the 2006 Public Consultation on Content Online in the Single Market, the EFJ emphasised the need for journalists (including photographers) to be recognised as authors of the work they create, to control further use of their work and to receive equitable remuneration for all its uses.…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on journalists’ unions to make a commitment to gender equity as it joined the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ITUC) in its launch of the Worldwide Campaign for Decent Work, Decent Life for Women. “The ITUC’s latest survey on the world gender pay gap reveals that women earn 16% less than their male colleagues,” says IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “Journalism tends to become more and more feminine. The lack of recognition of women’s rights and their access to leadership positions is an objective to be addressed urgently if we want to make a difference.” The campaign, which is supported by more than 50…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on journalists’ unions to make a commitment to gender equity as it joined the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ITUC) in its launch of the Worldwide Campaign for Decent Work, Decent Life for Women. “The ITUC’s latest survey on the world gender pay gap reveals that women earn 16% less than their male colleagues,” says IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “Journalism tends to become more and more feminine. The lack of recognition of women’s rights and their access to leadership positions is an objective to be addressed urgently if we want to make a difference.” The campaign, which is supported by more than 50…
Sri Lanka’s media does not pay sufficient attention to issues of special concern to women, according to civil society representatives surveyed as part of a media and human rights project conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The survey of 40 non-government organisations found that almost all thought the media did not give women a voice or allow adequate opportunities for them to express their views within the media, while 87% thought the Sri Lankan media’s coverage of gender issues was weak. These views were backed up by monitoring of 22 Sinhala, Tamil and English newspapers in May-June 2007, which revealed…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the government of Cameroon to end a media crackdown that has lead to threats and detention of journalists as authorities try to silence journalists covering social unrest in the country.
“Independent media are being targeted because the Cameroonian government does not want journalists reporting on the current social crisis, the debates over revising the constitution or protests against the high cost of living,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa office. “But the people of Cameroon have the right to know about these things and the government must let our colleagues do their work. Authorities…
La Fédération Internationale des Journalistes (FIJ) a condamné aujourd’hui, les peines de prison prononcées mardi par la Cour d’Appel de Jijel contre deux journalistes de la presse indépendante en Algérie, pour insulte d’un représentant de l’Etat.
Omar Belhouchet, directeur du quotidien francophone El Watan et Chawki Amari, chroniqueur du même journal, ont été condamnés en deuxième instance à deux mois de prison ferme et au paiement solidaire d’une amende d’un million dinars (10 000 Euros), pour outrage au wali (préfet de département) de Jijel. La…
Hosted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) On Friday 7th March, 10-12 am At the Résidence Palace, Passage room
The IFJ and ITUC will host a discussion and press conference on women fighting for decent work around the world. Today, women form 40% of total world employment. The basis for launching this two-year Decent Work, Decent Life for Women World Campaign is rooted in the multiple discriminatory policies and practices that confront women workers who: still earn 12 to 60% less than what their male co-workers earn, even in occupations such as nursing and teaching; account for an increasing proportion (60%) of the…
Hosted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) On Friday 7th March, 10-12 am At the Résidence Palace, Passage room
The IFJ and ITUC will host a discussion and press conference on women fighting for decent work around the world.
Today, women form 40% of total world employment. The basis for launching this two-year Decent Work, Decent Life for Women World Campaign is rooted in the multiple discriminatory policies and practices that confront women workers who:still earn 12 to 60% less than what their male co-workers earn, even in occupations such as nursing and teaching; account for an increasing proportion (60%) of…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned Tunisian customs officials who detained and violently assaulted two journalists, Omar Mestiri and Sihem Bensedrine, on their return from a trip abroad. The IFJ has called for an investigation into the incident.
“This is yet another sign of intolerance and the targeting of independent journalists by Tunisian authorities,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “The aim is clearly to silence voices critical of the government through intimidation and we are sure it will not succeed.”
Bensedrine is the Secretary General of the Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing and…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is saddened and appalled at news that a correspondent for the English-language daily newspaper The Nation was killed and another local journalist injured in a suicide bomb blast in Mingora on February 29.
Sirajuddin was one of 40 people killed as he was reporting on the funeral of a police officer in Mingora in the Swat Valley, close to Pakistan’s North-Western Frontier Province.
Hazrat Bilal, from the local Shawal newspaper, was also seriously hurt in the blast, which injured 81 people.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an IFJ affiliate, said the death of Sirajuddin added to the tragic toll of…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has voiced strong concern over the detention of a foreign journalist and his translator by the authorities last month.Mark Magnier, Beijing bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, accompanied by a translator and a lawyer visited citizens of a so-called “grievance village” in Beijing on 27th February, 2008.A number of officials approached Magnier and his companions while he was talking to the villagers.They were taken to a police station and held for an hour, during which time they were questioned.Magnier later said this was not the first time he had been detained by the police but he was surprised that the officials did not seem to be…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the authorities of Niger to release editor, Aboubacar Gourouza, charged with libeling a political leader and for contempt of court.
“We can’t understand why the authorities in Niger have decided to persecute the journalists at this point,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa office. “It is wrong for journalists to be imprisoned for libel, but it is an outrage that a journalist can be jailed on the basis of a ‘complaint’ before even going to trial.”
Aboubacar Gourouza the editor of L’Eveil Plus newspaper was arrested on Tuesday 26 February after two complaints…
The International Federation of Journalists condemns the “ban” imposed on a daily newspaper, Asamiya Pratidin, by a political party in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam. According to information received from an IFJ affiliate, the Indian Journalists’ Union (IJU), armed vigilantes belonging to the Bodo People’s Front (BPF), intercepted a delivery van belonging to the newspaper on February 25 in Kokrajhar district of Assam, and destroyed its entire cargo of the day’s edition, before setting the van ablaze.
The BPF, the IFJ learns, is a former insurgent group that now is the principal constituent of the Bodoland Territorial Council, a body created under…
To support women's rights and freedom of speech in Iran, the IFJ and its Gender council call on IFJ affiliates to protest against the recent closure of Zanan , Iran's leading women and pro-reform magazine.
To make your voice heard, please send letters of support to Zanan's editorial director, Shahla Sherkat, and to Iranian embassies in your respective countries.
You may use the draft letter below.
Download draft letter
For more information, please contact [email protected]
The UNESCO Women Make the News initiative provides an opportunity for women to be given more space and to provide balance in a profession which remains male dominated in its management and its culture.
Placing more women in leadership positions in the newsroom is urgent, not least to reflect the reality of a profession whose employment profile is increasingly feminine. But this is not a numbers game. Female leadership contributes to reporting the news with a different mindset, it truly adds to media diversity and it enhances quality in journalism.
But female leadership is not sufficient to promote gender equality in the news. To challenge the current culture of media work requires that…
The Permanent Conference of Mediterranean Audiovisual Operators (COPEAM) carries on its involvement about women condition in the Euro-Med Media field, supporting an action proposed by International Relations of RAI: a query addressed to women journalists of the Euro-Med area that aims at outlining a map of the conditions of women Media professionals in the region, and at laying the basis on which conceiving new actions for a tangible equity in our field.
http://www.copeam.org/foglia.jsp?id=645
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the government of Cameroon to lift its ban on the radio and television stations of Equinoxe group, which has covered the opposition to plans to amend the Constitution in order to extend the rule of Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya.
“This is a sneaky attempt to silence the media in the ongoing debate on the constitutional amendment,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa office. “We call on the Minister of Communication to lift immediately the ban on the Equinoxe TV and Radio and to make sure media can work in total independence.”
On Thursday, February 21, the Minister of…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) unequivocally condemns actions by senior Sri Lankan police to intimidate, abuse and humiliate journalists who report in the public interest.
The Free Media Movement (FMM), an IFJ affiliate, reports that a senior police officer, Inspector Mahesh Perera, abused and assaulted Sugath Dharmapriya, a news producer of Derana TV, who was reporting from the scene of a bomb blast in Colombo on February 23.
Perera reportedly threw Dharmapriya onto the street and shouted that the journalist needed to be chased away from the bomb site, forcing Dharmapriya to leave the scene fearing for his safety.
According to the FMM, Perera was involved in a…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed outrage over the shooting this morning of the President of the Iraqi Union of Journalists in Baghdad.
The IUJ President, Shihab Al-Timimi, 75, is in hospital in critical but stable condition after his car was hit by a hail of bullets in a targeted attack following a meeting of the union leadership in the Al Wazeiriyah district in the centre of the city. He sustained bullet wounds to the stomach, shoulder and face. Al-Tamimi’s son Rabei was also in the car and was slightly injured in the attack.
“This shocking outrage will be condemned by journalists all around the world,|” said Aidan White, IFJ General…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the recent raid by government forces on the offices of the Waayaha private newspaper in what was suspected to be an attempt to confiscate their equipment and prevent the journalists from covering military operations in the neighborhood.
“It is unacceptable for government forces to behave like bandits,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa office. “We condemn this move and call on the Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to take urgent action to ensure the journalists’ equipment is returned and they can work in total safety.”
According to the National Union of…
Today the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the regional group of the International Federation of Journalists, condemned the decision of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to nominate Christine Ockrent, the wife of France’s Foreign Affairs Minister, to head the planned French-language international public broadcaster, France Monde. “There is no doubt about Ms. Ockrent’s professional qualifications, but it is inconceivable to ask the partner of the Foreign Affairs Minister to take the lead of a global public broadcaster,” said EFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “We see a blatant conflict of interest and possible suspicion of political interference, which will harm to the…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on Belarus’s Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that found Aliaksandar Zdzvizhkou, former deputy editor of Zhoda newspaper guilty of inciting religious hatred for re-printing the Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in 2006.
“This prosecution is an attack on press freedom that the government has tried to disguise by claiming religious hatred,” said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “Media should be guided by their own sense of ethics and the industry should police itself.”
Zdzvizhkou’s trial began in November 2007 and he was convicted and given a three-year jail sentence in…
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the Ugandan government to investigate the brutal killing of Ugandan journalist Rebecca Wilbrod Kasujja.
“We condemn this shocking attack on Rebecca, which underscores the danger that journalists face in Africa,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa Office. “We are calling on authorities to conduct a full investigation and bring her attackers to justice.”
Kasujja, 32, was raped and killed by unknown men on Sunday morning as she was on her way to work at Buwama FM Radio station, a community radio station at about 62 km south of Kampala.
“This incident once again highlights…
