Covering Freedom of Expression: Resources for Journalists

According to ICJF, increasing public awareness of the importance of a free press can strengthen democracy, bolster freedom and help protect human rights. A free and independent media can be directly linked to less corruption, better economic policies and stronger financial markets as well as greater political rights and services for citizens. This was the basis on which the Covering Freedom of Expression: Resources for Journalists project was developed.

A series of two-and-a-half day workshops were conducted, each with approximately 25 print, electronic or broadcast journalists from Latin America as well as leading local editors, publishers, news directors, producers and media owners. Journalists were taught in the local language by a team of expert U.S. or international instructors and local trainers. In the workshops, participants learned about issues related to freedom of the press in their countries and were given the tools to cover them in an independent, balanced and unbiased manner.

According to the organisers, participants:

• learned how to apply international fundamentals of freedom of expression;
• examined press freedom topics (such as licensing of journalists, manipulation of the media, terror and intimidation, and access to information) and how they are covered;
• received hands-on training to identify and develop story ideas; and found new stories and learned other reporting techniques on freedom of expression; and
• learned about resources such as ICFJ's Spanish-language website, Libertad-Prensa (www.libertad-prensa.org), which provide tools to cover freedom of expression challenges.

ICJF also is developing additional training materials, including case studies of quality reporting in this field.

Freedom of Expression, Rights, Democracy

According to ICJF, "freedom of expression is vital to a healthy democracy - a free press can keep corruption in check by watching over and reporting on the activities of government and business. Yet in many Latin American countries, journalists are not always allowed to report on what they find. And sometimes by simply doing their jobs, they find themselves in harm's way."