Event Reports
The KAS Media Program South East Europe and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) hosted a panel discussion on "Safety and protection of journalists" during the conference. Speakers were Ibrahim Alsragey, Director of the Iraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association (IJRDA), Esben Q. Harboe, Programme Manager of International Media Support (IMS) and Delphine Halgand, Director of the US office of RSF. The discussion was moderated by Christian Spahr, Head of KAS Media Program South East Europe.
The hosts underlined that journalists and media workers are increasingly subject to deliberate violence and imprisonment. International initiatives to protect media personnel have not been successful enough so far. During the panel the current "UN action plan on the safety of journalists" was discussed and mainly positively evaluated. The role of media development organisations and media companies regarding the protection of journalists in fragile and failing states was also analysed. The speakers commented on political obstacles against strengthening international safety mechanisms.
Spahr said that due to political instability and a trend towards authoritarian political models, journalism has become a more dangerous profession worldwide. Difficult political environments make the protection of journalists more complicated.
Following the discussion, Spahr presented a new book of the KAS Media Program South East Europe on conflict reporting. The publication puts a special emphasis on the protection of journalists. The book is available online for free.
The FoME Symposium has been organised since 2010. Further topics of the 2016 conference were, amongst others, fact checking in conflict zones and journalism ethics in war reporting.