Global/International

A multilingual, global collaborative Internet site devoted to recording research on and connections with alternative, radical, citizens, Community, independent, militant, autonomous, media throughout the world. 

Do you want to use multimedia, online or offline tools to advance your cause?   Creatively and effectively? To reach the broadest possible audience?

Do you want to create and distribute audio programmes, comic books, posters and newsletters? Set up a website or a blog to champion your issue?

Tactical Tech's "Message in-a-box" is a set of strategic guides to using communications tools for social change, together with a suite of open source tools to get you making your own media. The toolkit is designed for small and medium-sized NGOs, advocates, and citizen journalists to help them create and distribute content for their advocacy efforts while exploring the constantly evolving world of campaigning and communications.

The Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) is a space for collaborative monitoring of implementation of international (and national) commitments made by governments towards the creation of an inclusive information society.

It focuses on monitoring progress made towards implementing the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) action agenda and other international and national commitments related to information and communications. It also provides analytical overviews of institutions involved in implementation. GISWatch aims to make governments and international organisations accountable for meeting the commitments they make through contributing to building a strong and sustainable global civil society policy advocacy network.

The GISWatch 2007 and GISWatch 2008 reports are the first in a series of yearly reports covering the state of the information society from the perspectives of civil society.

GISWatch is not only a publication, it is a process. The long term goal of the project is to build policy analysis skills and ‘habits’ into the work of civil society organisations that work in the areas of ICT for development, democracy and social justice.

About us
The Global Information Society Watch is a joint initiative of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) and the Third World Institute (ITeM), and follows up on our long-term interest in the impact of civil society on governance processes and our efforts to enhance public participation in national and international forums.

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) www.apc.org
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network of civil society organisations dedicated to empowering and supporting groups and individuals working for peace, human rights, development and protection of the environment, through the strategic use of information and communication technologies, including the internet.
Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) www.hivos.nl
Hivos is a Dutch non-governmental organisation guided by humanist values. The work of Hivos aims at structurally alleviating poverty, with an emphasis on civil society building and on sustainable economic development. The efforts of Hivos are focused on nine themes: financial services and business development; sustainable production; human rights and democratisation; HIV/AIDS; gender, women and development; art and culture; ICT & media; advocacy and communication; and the knowledge programme.
Third World Institute (ITeM) www.item.org.uy
The Third World Institute (ITeM) performs information, communication and education activities on an international level, concerning development and environment-related activities. It is a civil society organization, working for civil society, which encourages citizen involvement in global decision-making processes.

A series of papers from APC looks at how to create capacity, business models policies, tools and more that can help overcome social and economic imbalance and ensure that everyone has equitable access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

A 2008 report from several practitioners describing the powerful role of community media in their regions.

"The real focus of the text is on democratic and sustainable development. It reflects the main interest of those who support or are active in community radio, an interest that does not centre on technology, equipment, infrastructure or spectrum. Their interest focuses on participation."

"This publication is not designed to be an exhaustive analysis of community radio in the 21st century. It is designed to provide perspectives on a rapidly changing and increasingly relevant movement within the context of contemporary development debates. It does not suggest that community media offer a panacea to all society’s ills, nor to argue that other forms of media do not have critical roles in development. It does argue that current evidence and experience should prompt a major re-evaluation and increasing interest in community radio by development policymakers and specialists. We suggest that what is also needed are strong efforts to create more enabling policy and regulatory environments for community media."

Michael Barker presents this political and academic research paper on the role of liberal foundations, primarily Ford Foundation, in the history of media activism, concluding there is a "problematic nexus between liberal philanthropy and progressive media reform" and offering some "recommendations for how media activists may begin to move away from their (arguably unsustainable) reliance on liberal philanthropy."

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007

How the index was compiled

Paris, 16 October 2007

The Reporters Without Borders index
measures the state of press freedom in the world. It reflects the
degree of freedom that journalists and news organisations enjoy in each
country, and the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure
respect for this freedom.

A score and a position is assigned to
each country in the final ranking. They are complementary indicators
that together assess the state of press freedom. A country can change
position from year to year even if its score stays the same, and
vice-versa.

This ranking reflects the situation
during a specific period. It is based solely on events between 1
September 2006 and 1 September 2007. It does not look at human rights
violations in general, just press freedom violations.

To compile this index, Reporters
Without Borders prepared a questionnaire with 50 criteria that assess
the state of press freedom in each country. It includes every kind of
violation directly affecting journalists (such as murders,
imprisonment, physical attacks and threats) and news media (censorship,
confiscation of newspaper issues, searches and harassment). Ánd it
includes the degree of impunity enjoyed by those responsible for these
press freedom violations.

It also measures the level of
self-censorship in each country and the ability of the media to
investigate and criticise. Financial pressure, which is increasingly
common, is also assessed and incorporated into the final score.

The questionnaire takes account of the
legal framework for the media (including penalties for press offences,
the existence of a state monopoly for certain kinds of media and how
the media are regulated) and the level of independence of the public
media. It also reflects violations of the free flow of information on
the Internet.

"Don’t wait to be deprived of news to stand up and fight for it"

Investigate, expose and support

Reporters Without Borders:

defends
journalists and media assistants imprisoned or persecuted for doing
their job and exposes the mistreatment and torture of them in many
countries.

fights against censorship and laws that undermine press freedom.

gives financial aid
each year to 100 or so journalists or media outlets in difficulty (to
pay for lawyers, medical care and equipment) as well to the families of
imprisoned journalists.

works to improve the safety of journalists, especially those reporting in war zones.

Before taking action, Reporters Without
Borders researchers, who each handle a region (Africa, the Americas,
Asia/Pacific, Europe and the former Soviet bloc, Middle East/ North
Africa) or a topic such as the Internet, compile reports of press
freedom violations. After checking the information, the researchers and
the organisations’ correspondents send protest letters to the
authorities to put pressure on governments which do not respect the
right to inform and to be informed, and send releases to the media to
drum up support for the journalists under attack.

Sometimes gathering information is not
enough. A Reporters Without Borders fact-finding mission is then sent
to investigate on the spot the working conditions of journalists, as
well as cases of imprisoned or murdered journalists, and also to meet
with the authorities in the country concerned.

Publicity campaigns conducted with the
help of public relations firms aim to inform people and try to give
countries which do not respect this basic right a bad name in the eyes
of international institutions, the media and governments that have ties
with them.

Reporters Without Borders is funded by
the sale of its twice-annual albums of photographs as well as
calendars, by auctions, small and large donations, member dues, public
grants and partnerships with private firms.

An international organisation

Reporters Without Borders is present in all five continents through
its national branches (in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland), its offices in Bangkok, London,
New York, Tokyo and Washington, and the more than 120 correspondents it
has in other countries. The organisation also works closely with local
and regional press freedom groups that are members of the Reporters
Without Borders Network, in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burma,
Colombia, Democratic Congo, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Peru,
Romania, Russia, Somalia, the United States and Tunisia.

Reporters Without Borders is registered in France as a non-profit organisation and has consultant status at the United Nations.

In 2005, the organisation won the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

A constantly-updated website

All the organisation’s press releases and publications are available
online in five languages (Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Persian)
at its website www.rsf.org which keeps a daily-updated list of
journalists killed or imprisoned around the world. It also contains
detailed reports on special cases and invites the public to sign online
petitions for the release of jailed journalists.

This is a directory
of media owned and operated primarily by, for and about women.
We do not include men's "women's magazines" (magazines
directed at women), even if they have a female staff. We do include
many academic periodicals which are published by institutions,
but only those where women determine content and make up the majority
of the staff. If a woman's media feels it fits our definition,
we usually include them.

In the 1970's and '80's, the Women's
Institute for Freedom of the Press published 15 annual editions
of the Directory of Women's Media. The National Council
for Research on Women, in New York, published two more editions
in the early 1990's. Now, once again, WIFP is publishing of the
directory of periodicals, publishers, media organizations, and
other media categories. It is available here on the WIFP website
with no access charge. Since we are continually updating the Directory,
please send us any new entries or changes so we can immediately
include them. We want the Directory to be as accurate and
as inclusive as possible particularly when we produce our print
version of this Directory of Women's Media available.

Women's media associations have been founded around the world to
support women journalists. Their focus and activities vary depending on
the needs and desires of members. Some associations lobby media owners
for changes in how women are portrayed in the media. Others arrange
conferences on issues related to women in journalism. Many organize
roundtable discussions on women in the media.

If
you are interested in starting a women's media association, these tips from members of existing associations can help you get
started.