Media4Change team has recently traveled to Perugia, Italy, to attend the 17th International Journalism Festival. Guided by the aim to share knowledge, participants of this festival suggested many useful resources to make life of investigative journalists even more exciting.
Jempson is a journalist, international trainer and university lecturer who has been involved in co-operative journalism projects. he is the Director of the journalism ethics NGO MediaWise. He thinks that local media can work as a network all over the world, covering local stories, connecting them and turning them into global issues.
He shared with us some of his reflections on journalism and The Bristol Cable, an innovative investigative newspaper with which he is involved.
A seven minute walk in the heart of Vilnius old town is all that separates the UNESCO Gallery from the Jonas Mekas Visual Art Center. During those 7 minutes in November and December, one could have had an imaginary journey through 70 years of Lithuanian history.
Anybody visiting these art galleries would have been introduced to Majd Kara, Ramūnas Paniulaitis and Jonas Mekas. All three visual artists have faced pivotal moments in Lithuanian history: Democracy, Soviet System and post-war.
The European Youth Press as well as its Member Organisations and other partners focus on informing media makers about all levels of corruption and empowering them to tackle it effectively. For media makers, corruption is a key topic twofold: media is one of the main institutions in society responsible for detecting, deterring and reporting on corruption, while simultaneously being prone to and often affected by corruption. Young media makers and citizens are vital in changing society’s perceptions and tolerance of corruption.
Countries, in which this project will take place, have been purposefully selected for their national corruption situation. Some countries have a very good track record and can bring positive examples to the debate, whilst others have serious challenges with regards to open and established corruption schemes in the public and private sector, extending even to media institutions and journalists themselves. You can read more about objectives and stages of this project at the end of this call. The Reporting Corruption project is supported by the European Youth Foundation of Council of Europe.
‘Four years ago we started our bid for freedom. Now, all are dead or in prison’, Kholoud Helmi said. She is a journalist and Human Rights Activist who participated in the Syrian Revolution from the beginning, in 2011. She found the best way to face oppression was by creating an underground newspaper, Enab Baladi, which is still being printed and distributed in Syria today.
Nils, the investigative journalist, believes that good journalism involves analyzing and reporting on every aspect of the story and asking all the questions needed. Even when those questions may seem difficult, or situations too sensitive. ‘When you are not asking critical and tough questions, this is not showing respect to people, but pity’, he says.
The Media4Change team has been long working towards establishing the Investigative Journalism Center for Eastern and Central Europe focusing on topics of human rights violations and it seems that the goal has just came closer to the reality. The project has been selected as one of 10 best European media startup initiatives to participate in the mentorship program ‘Diversity Accelerator (Div-A)’ which is run by media experts and funded by the European Council.
So far, Lithuania has become a shelter country for very few refugees fleeing the war-torn Syria. Moreover, many of those who come are trying to escape soon after. But Redwan Eid, a Syrian journalist who had no other choice but to leave his homeland, has decided to stay in Lithuania. He launched the crowdfunding campaign inviting everyone to support journalism which helps to facilitate the integration of refugees to Lithuanian society.
“I am a young journalist from Turkey. I have worked for news agencies and newspapers before and I am very passionate about my job and also about human rights.”
That is how I described myself in job applications. Let’s check it again, honestly.
Intolerance, harassment and bullying. Urtė is only 17, but she has to carry on the weight of discrimination at school on her shoulders. Matas would have liked to get more support in his family. Božena thinks that villages are in a worse shape than cities. Because Urtė, Matas and Božena are LGBT, they will experience far more difficulties in their daily lives. This investigation gives an insight in the lives of LGBT-people in Lithuania.