How to engage with the Media Freedom Cohort of the second Summit for Democracy (Jan. 2023)

from?GFMD IMPACT

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

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GFMD invites you to become part of the?Media Freedom Cohort?of the second?Summit for Democracy.

The Media Freedom Cohort is a multi-stakeholder platform which aims to bring together civil society actors, media, private sector leaders, philanthropic partners, academics, and government decision-makers, with a shared commitment to making concrete progress in improving media freedom.

Commitments:??One of the key functions of the Cohort is to?gather?commitments?to funding, funding models, industry standards, public policies, and other initiatives that will help media outlets survive and thrive in the coming decades.

Criteria:??We are striving for commitments that are?measurable, replicable, and achievable, believing that these commitments will best allow for systemic change.

Deadline:??24 February 2023

COMMITMENTS CAN BE SUBMITTED USING THIS FORM

As well as gathering commitments, the other role of the Cohort is to gather:

1. Evidence on best practices and lessons learned regarding how governments and other stakeholders can improve media freedom and “Bolster Independent and Diverse Media” at home and abroad.
2. Multistakeholder, participatory, and demonstrably effective projects and initiatives that are scalable and have the potential to bring about systemic change.

Based on the Commitments, evidence and initiatives that are gathered, the?working group co-leads will produce a report that will be published by the Cohort ahead of the Summit and fed into the Summit’s processes?wherever possible.

Media Freedom Cohort outcomes and advocacy opportunities:?GFMD is planning to promote the work of the Cohort at the following events:

Details about the?Global Democracy Coalition will be published on their?website?shortly.?Contact the Forum?if you want to participate and for more?information

?About the Media Freedom Cohort:?

Civil society lead:?Internews

Government leads:?Canada and the Netherlands (the current co-chairs of the?Media Freedom Coalition)

• Based on the media freedom pledges made at the first summit, the Media Freedom Cohort’s work has been divided into three priority areas:Working Group 1 – Protecting Journalists’ Safety & Security
• Working Group 2 – Advancing Freedom of Expression
• Working Group 3 – Bolstering Independent and Diverse Media

How to join:?

- Email?[email protected],?indicate?the working group you are interested in joining, and nominate?a contact point for your organisation. You?will then be connected with the different working group leads.

- You can also request to join Working Group 3 by sending an email to?[email protected]

GFMD’s role:?

- GFMD is the civil society lead for Working Group 3 -?“Bolstering Independent and Diverse Media”.?

- GFMD will be using the cohort as an opportunity to continue the work on best practices for supporting journalism and media, more specifically our recent consultations on:

• “Renewing principles on effective support to journalism and media”
• “Coordinating Media Assistance and Journalism Support Efforts”

TO KNOW MORE

• ?The?article?Whose media freedom is being defended? Norm contestation in international media freedom campaigns?by?Martin Scott,?Mel Bunce,?Mary Myers,?and?Maria Carmen Fernandez?analyses how international advocacy campaigns approach and define media freedom, and what influences this process. It does this through a two-year case study of the Media Freedom Coalition—an intergovernmental partnership of over 50 countries—that included 55 interviews with key stakeholders, observations, and document analysis. This revelatory case sheds light on how norms of media freedom are constructed and contested on the international stage, and their implications for journalists, media freedom and geopolitics.?A summary of this article is available?here.

For the latest?opportunities to engage?with inter-governmental institutions dealing in media freedom and media development as well as the latest research on how to support independent media click HERE.