Ecuador has recently approved a Communications Law that restricts the exercise of free expression. In order to minimize this Law's potential for self-censorship and external interference and to build a culture of high-quality journalism, this project will train journalism students, journalists and media leaders on best practices (including self-regulation, transparency and high ethical standards).
IPDC Project implementation status: Implementation completed
The Ecole Nationale d’Administration was established in 1966 to train senior-level Mauritanian government officials, and in this capacity it was entrusted with the task of setting up the Journalism Institute. Since 2011, the Institute has been offering an initial training programme in journalism as well as an ongoing training programme for practising journalists. Since then, it has been operating under the name Ecole nationale d’administration, du journalisme et de la magistrature (ENAJM) (National School of Administration, Journalism and Magistracy). This project provides for a training...
Although Sierra Leone has seen a proliferation of new community radio stations, most of these stations were started and managed by people with little or no training in broadcasting. As a result, these stations lack experienced and adequately trained staff, which limits the production of well-researched, balanced and professional programming. In particular, most lack the skills to produce professional programmes on accountability/transparency issues targeting local government institutions.
In response to the need for citizens to be adequately informed about government...
Most local and regional media outlets in Peru have very limited financial, technical and professional resources, which negatively affects production quality. Journalists lack knowledge about the Law of Access to Public Information and make few requests for information on sensitive state issues such as corruption. Given that journalists can play a central role in acting as watchdogs and stimulating public debate, it is essential to promote access to public information. This project shall therefore work with journalists and lawyers to develop a special programme for requesting the...
Since the beginning of the Moroccan protests in February 2011, in which citizens took to the streets to demand genuine democratic reform and respect for human rights, numerous protesters have been attacked by law enforcement officials. Likewise, a large number of media professionals, both Moroccan and foreign, have suffered and continue to suffer from the violent reactions of a regime that practises information control. Since its creation in 2010, OFIE has been aware of a large number of cases and has received complaints from numerous victims. However, it often finds itself faced with a...
VGK FM is one of the rare radio stations in the Plateaux region. It transmits within a very limited broadcast range of 15 km and only covers the town of Palimé, and a few, small, nearby villages. The vast majority of the districts in the coffee and cocoa triangle are therefore not covered by VGK FM and are victims of the decline in coverage that is observed as one moves away from Lomé, the capital, to the north of Togo. To compensate for this lack of technical resources, which limits the range of coverage of the VGK FM station, to strengthen the technical and operational capacity of the...
Journalists in Venezuela face obstacles to fulfilling their professional duties, such as restricted access to public information. In order to overcome some of these obstacles, journalists (particularly investigative reporters) would benefit from working with IT experts to develop data management and digital information security tools, such as instruments to extract information of public interest from the web and databases to store that information. This project will therefore equip 100 journalists, journalism professors and web designers with skills in data management and digital...
The post-revolution media sector in Tunisia has entered an uncertain stage, characterised by a lack of clear regulation and confusion about ethical standards. Most media professionals do not differentiate between criticism and defamation, while some managers incite their employees to go beyond ethical limits in order to increase audience size. Unfortunately, there is no press council to ensure self-regulation. The unethical behaviour of Tunisian media workers leads to distrust amongst ordinary citizens for mainstream media.
To address this issue, the Tunis Centre for Press...
The media have the potential to play a major role in raising awareness about environmental problems and in particular in educating the public about climate change. Doing so can help change attitudes and behaviour, such as the irresponsible dumping of toxic waste, which can help mitigate the effects of climate change.
In order for journalists to be able to fulfil this role, they must be familiar with the problems and able to present them in an understandable and interesting way. This is not the case in francophone Africa, where environmental issues are generally not valued (...
Natural disasters are common occurrences in Costa Rica, with minor earthquakes taking place daily and strong tremors happening several times a year. According to national statistics, the 49 events that occurred between 1980 and 2010 killed 312 people, affected another 1 647 964 and produced damages amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. Such events are major national news items. However, local media in disaster areas are unable to fully inform either the affected population or the national media. A blueprint for emergency response, the Manual for journalists on ethical coverage...
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