IREX Presents “Innovations in Gathering and Sharing News” at World Press Freedom Day 2012

The theme of World Press Freedom Day 2012 is “New Voices: Media Freedom Helping to Transform Societies.” The United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Government of Tunisia are organizing this year’s commemoration in Tunis, Tunisia May 3-5, 2012.

IREX is pleased to continue supporting this important event this year by sponsoring a panel on novel ways to gather and share news that give voice to citizens and reach new audiences.

Innovations in Gathering and Sharing News
Friday May 4, 16:00

Speakers:

Amy O’DONNELL, Radio Project Manager, FrontlineSMS:Radio, UK

Tikhala CHIBWANA, General Manager, Blantyre Newspaper Limited, Malawi

Jeff BLASIUS, Co-Founder, SeeClickFix.com, USA

Khaled KOUBAA, Policy Manager North Africa, Google, Tunisia

Lawrence RANDALL, Executive Director, Liberia Media Center, Liberia

Rose SHUMAN, Founder and CEO, Open Mind – Question Box, USA

Jeffrey AVINA, Director of Citizenship and Community Affairs, Microsoft Middle East and Africa *TBC

Lauren WOLFE, Director, Women Under Siege Syria, USA

Description:

Evolving technologies and changing approaches are creating new ways to gather and share news. These innovations have the potential to confound the barriers of distance, infrastructure, human resources, funds, literacy, and censorship. Six innovators will share their methodologies to obtain more and better information, how these new approaches work, and what challenges they face. A discussion forum will follow their presentations. 

About World Press Freedom Day:

World Press Freedom Day is celebrated every year on May 3 worldwide to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. UNESCO organizes a central World Press Freedom Day commemoration every year. The keynote speech this year will be given by the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Tawakkol Karman, a journalist and human rights activist who played a key role during the uprisings in Yemen. She is the first Arab woman and the youngest recipient in the Prize’s history. Topics for discussion at the event will include social media, the safety of journalists and media workers, professional and ethical standards, the role of policymakers and lawmakers in media regulation, decriminalization of speech, ownership of media, and more. The conference also will include the awarding of the $25,000 Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, presented each year to a journalist who has shown dedication in the name of freedom of expression and information.

IREX also is extending the World Press Freedom Day Fellows program for a second year to bring to the commemoration front-line journalists and activists whose work is advancing media freedom in their countries. Stay tuned for details on this year's fellows and for live updates on World Press Freedom Day 2012, follow @IREXMedia on Twitter.