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Tag: INSI

  • Intl committee on journos safety being established

    Intl committee on journos safety being established

    MUMBAI: An international committee is being established to investigate the dangers facing journalists around the world and to recommend ways to protect them in their work.
     
     
    The director of BBC’s global news division Richard Sambrook will chair the committee..Sambrook is responsible for leading the BBC’s overall international news strategy across radio, TV and online

    Media organisations, government representatives, non-government organisations and human rights campaigners will be involved in the committee of inquiry, which is being led by the International News Safety Institute (INSI).
     
     
    Addressing the annual Poliak Lecture, hosted by the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York Sambrook said, “Journalists are now at risk to a greater extent than they have ever been before. Where once their neutrality was widely recognised and respected, today they are targeted and sought out [by aggressors]. They are seen as high-profile representatives of their countries or cultures.

    “Increased partisanship in our media may have played a part in that; there may be other factors too. But with 85 journalists or support staff killed in the last year, we, as an industry, cannot carry on and do nothing. It is now one of the biggest inhibitions on freedom of reporting.”

    In his wide-ranging speech, Sambrook also focussed on the issue of objectivity in journalism. He called on broadcasters and publications to avoid patriotic reporting and reminded them of their “responsibility” to “ask the difficult questions”.

    “Before Iraq, it seemed to me that some US news broadcasters wrapped themselves in the flag and, as a consequence, did not perform the role the public expects of them. I understand the problem. The mindset of the country was that it was at war. Our natural instinct is to support our country.

    “But the responsibility of the news media is to ask the difficult questions, to press, to verify. And we now know that all of us failed to ask the right questions about WMD in advance of the war. That isn’t to say the war was wrong. Each person can make up his / her own mind up about that. But to do so they need accurate information, evidence that has been tested.”

  • INSI formed to protect journos reporting from battle front

    MUMBAI: During the recently concluded Iraq conflict there were heart rending reports of young media personnel getting killed leaving behind families. Now, a global coalition of more than 100 media organisations has announced the formation of the International News Safety Institute (INSI).
    The INSI campaign aims at raising awareness of the dangers many journalists face on the job and to support risk-reduction programmes throughout the industry. Founding members of INSI include Reuters, CNN, ABC, BBC, SKY News, Wall Street Journal Europe, and The Statesman.
    The Newspaper Guild-CWA president Linda Foley was reported as saying: “At least, 13 journalists were killed during the Iraq war and others lost their lives recently in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the war against terror. These are increasingly dangerous times for reporters on the front lines of these stories, and it is more important than ever that news organisations do everything possible to give journalists proper training and protective equipment before sending them into war zones.”
    The INSI has launched a website www.newssafety.com which provides news, safety tips and resources for protecting journalists. The campaign seeks to expand its network of organisations committed to risk reduction, as well as provide an information clearing house, and sponsor forums and events to raise awareness of the issues.
    AFTRA President John Connelly said, “Last year, the discovery of anthrax-tainted letters in American newsrooms made it clear that journalists are not only at risk while covering the news abroad — in some cases, journalists themselves are the targets of attacks. Issues of health and safety are of paramount concern to working journalists whether at home or abroad.”
    The World Press Freedom Day celebration a couple of days ago was marked by events held around the world, including a formal launch of the INSI programme at the International Press Centre in Brussels, meetings organised by UNESCO in Jamaica and by press freedom activists in London.