Author: Sara Torsner

UNESCO Chair Jackie Harrison discusses the role of academia in implementing the UN Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists at FOME event

On 13 September UNESCO Chair on Media Freedom, Journalism Safety and the Issue of Impunity, Professor Jackie Harrison, joined discussion on how to end impunity for crimes against journalists at the 2022 Forum for Media and Development Symposium “Dealing with the past and preparing for the future- Media Assistance in Conflict Mitigation, Reconciliation and Peacebuilding” (held on 13-14 September).

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Hungary’s “Catch 22” media dilemma

Zsombor György has a Catch 22 problem. The editor in chief of Magyar Hang, Hungarian Voice, has declared that the newspaper will go out of business this summer unless it finds a fresh injection of income. In Hungary’s modest-sized domestic market, Magyar Hang is one of the two top-selling political weeklies, with over 10,000 subscribers. The editor believes if he could just cover 20 or 30 percent of its costs through advertising the publication would survive. But that looks beyond reach because every source of those much-needed funds is closed.

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When media and politics merge, journalists become “the enemy”

The European Union claims it has understood that the demise of free and independent media spells the death of democracy. Europe, it’s said, has “learned the lessons” from being duped for years by Putin’s victim-blaming propaganda. For Europe’s major institutions journalists’ physical and legal safety is now a policy priority. An EU Media Freedom Act is in the pipeline. But is it already too late?

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Call for Contributions: Academic Consultation on the UN Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists

2022 marks the tenth anniversary of the UN Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. This is a call for contributions to the first in a series of academic consultations on the anniversary of the UN Action Plan to be held as a hybrid event (at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and online), jointly co-organised by UNESCO, the Journalism Safety Research Network, the UNESCO Chair on Media Freedom, Journalism Safety and the Issue of Impunity/Centre for Freedom of the Media, University of Sheffield, the World of Journalism Study and the Centre for Digital Politics, Media and Democracy, University of Liverpool.

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