[FPU LIVE] Thriving media for resilient democracies!
Channel: Free Press Unlimited
Date: 2023-03-29

Wednesday 29 March 2023, 09:15-12:15 CEST

Moderator: Nisha Pillai, former BBC news presenter 

Ruth Kronenburg, Executive Director of Free Press Unlimited, will start with a short statement why media freedom is vital for any democracy.

First panel discussion (9:45-10:20)
The first speaker is Enrique Gasteazoro who is the Director of Communications and Engagement at Access Now. As the former CEO of CONFIDENCIAL, a leading Nicaraguan public interest media outlet, he can speak from ample experience about the resilient online civic space that journalism can built amid a process of rapid erosion of democracy.
The second speaker is Eddy Prastyo who is Head of New Media at the Voice of Surabaya. This radiostation has become known as a ‘social institute’ and because of their unique format of addressing issues, they have become popular both for the residents of Surabaya as well as with the local government. Eddy will speak about their format and how that supports the city Surabaya.
The third speaker is Mira Chowdhury, Latin America Programme Lead at Free Press Unlimited. She is co-lead of a project called VIMES: Viable Media for Empowered Societies. The VIMES project works with media outlets in Central America and Eastern Europe that are facing increased political, economic and safety issues in their countries due to their ground-breaking reporting and pro-democracy stance. By building a cross-border collaboration network of journalists their business model, resilience and viability are improved, which strengthens their position in society.

Second panel discussion (10:25-11:00)
The first speaker is Mira Milosevic, who is Executive Director at the Global Forum for Media Development and has in that role been a vocal advocate for media development as a development priority for States. She will be able to tell us how aware States are of the need to support the resilience of independent media and what challenges are still to be tackled in this process.
The second speaker is Lizzy Bans Nobre, the deputy director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who represents the Netherlands in the Media Freedom Coalition. The governments of Canada and The Netherlands co-chair the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC), established in 2019 as a partnership of countries working together proactively to advocate for media freedom at home and abroad. The MFC has a Working Group on Media Development where issues of financial viability are discussed. What has this work entailed and what is the view of the Netherlands on how independent media can be supported by States so they are able to sustain their crucial public interest journalism?
The third speaker is Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), who initiated the International Initiative on Information and Democracy that aims at bringing democratic guarantees to the global communication and information space. One of the reports launched as part of this initiative is “a New Deal for Journalism” calling for a major commitment on a national and international scale to foster public-interest journalism. How can democracies restore, de jure and de facto, the social function of journalism?

Break-out sessions will take place from 10:30 to 11:30 AM. The WG leads will be invited to join the plenary table to present their outcomes.