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Journalists to debate concerns over war coverage
DATELINE: 7/11/07
A host of the UK's top journalists are meeting later this month to discuss media coverage of the "war on terror". The Evening Standard's Andrew Gilligan (pictured), the Guardian's Peter Wilby, author Philip Knightley and investigative journalist Nick Davies are just some of the star names to address the Media Workers Against the War (MWAW) conference on November 17.Entitled "The First Casualty? War, Truth and the Media Today", the conference will bring together practising journalists from print and broadcast media to address concerns over standards of war coverage.
David Crouch, chair of conference hosts Media Workers Against The War, said: "Amid all the current agonising about media integrity, and at a time when BBC management is preparing to cut news gathering even further, can there be any area more worthy of scrutiny than reporting the 'war on terror'?
"This conference will set out the issues and debate how best to campaign to improve standards. It will seek to identify the main sources of pro-war bias as a first step to providing media workers with tools and resources for combating it."
Andrew Gilligan said: "Much of the British media seems now to have put reporting from Iraq in the 'too difficult' category. This is the most important story in the world and it's amazing how little coverage it gets in the British press."
Peter Wilby said: "The press has apparently learnt nothing from the dodgy dossiers and phantom WMDs that preceded the Iraq war."
Documentary maker Sean Langan said: "I think the coverage of the war in Iraq, and the wider war on terror, has been the media's darkest hour."
Piers Morgan, former editor of the Daily Mirror, added: "The most effective way to prevent imperialistic, illegal and unethical wars waged by self-serving governments is a strong, aggressive and very loud media. It's just a shame we haven't seen much of that recently."
The half-day event at the London School of Economics will tackle the following issues:
* Have the media learned the lessons of Iraq?
* What are the pitfalls in reporting Iran?
* What can the BBC do to stand up to government bullying?
* What should accurate coverage of modern war look like?
* Are Muslims being unfairly targeted in the media?
David Crouch said: "The drums of a new war, this time with Iran, are beating. Journalists are concerned not to be used by pro-war politicians to push their agenda."
Tickets and more details are available from http://mwaw.net/conference/
LINKSMWAW conference
MWAW site
Last modified: Tuesday, November 13, 2007
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
War Reporting
Alan's thanks
Consistently biased
Hostage for 100 days
Media independence during Iraq war questioned
Journalists' Coverage of Middle East Shallow and Distorted
NUJ welcomes release of kidnapped photographer
Murdoch has no regrets over Iraq
'Bomb Al-jazeera', Blunkett said
Book Review: 'The Origins and Organisation of British Propaganda in Ireland 1920'
Don't Attack Iran
Media workers against the war - meeting
Rumsfeld's assault on free speech
Unworthy Victims?
World journalists condemn “stooge journalism”
MPs raise questions on Aljazeera-gate
'Iraq memo leak' accused in court
So Who is Behind Planting Stories in Iraqi Press?
IFJ accuses US over killing of Aljazeera journalist
Basra and the British Army
Iraq: the journalists’ death toll
The news - responsible for war and terrorism?
Nigeria- The Next Gulf?
Baghdad Bulletin: The Real Story of the War in Iraq – Reporting from Beyond the Green Zone
Hard hitting media exposé to launch 'Everyman Exposé'
An Alliance Against Babylon (Review)
Weapons of Mass Deception: the movie
Communicating war: strategies, implications & ethics.
Pentagon rejects Reuters' torture allegations
CNN news chief resigns amid row
Two Disasters, Two Responses
