The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmaker and other local and international journalists about the situation for freelance journalists in Ukraine and the work of Frontline Freelance Register.
Although Ukraine’s media environment has improved since a change in government in 2014, there remains several remaining challenges including undue political interference with content as well as violence, harassment, and other abuse of journalists. Local freelance journalists working without the backing of a media outlet face increased risks especially when working in conflict areas.
]]>Is this a trend that is repeating itself across the world? Or is Al Jazeera in a unique position?
We will be streaming this event live on our Facebook page at 7pm.
Safa Al Ahmad – Safa al-Ahmad is an award-winning Saudi Arabian journalist and filmmaker. She has directed documentaries for PBS and the BBC focusing on uprisings in the Middle East. She is the joint winner of the 2015 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award for Journalism and was a finalist for the 2014 Sony Impact Award.
Wadah Khanfar – Ex-Director General Al Jazeera Media Network. Wadah Khanfar, President of the Al Sharq Forum and the former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential intellectual in the Arab world. He now devotes much of his time to Al-Sharq Forum, an independent international Network with a mission to develop long-term strategies to ensure the political stability and economic prosperity of the Arab world and the region. His journalistic journey began with Al Jazeera Arabic channel while he was a research fellow in Johannesburg in 1997, subsequently covering some of the world’s key political zones, including US-led wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. During his 8-year tenure at the helm, Al Jazeera transformed from a single channel into a global media network. This period witnessed historic transformation in the Arab World including Arab Awakening. He was ranked first in Foreign Policy magazine’s top 100 global thinkers, and was one of Fast Company’s most creative people in business in 2011
Giles Trendle – Managing Director Al Jazeera English. Tendle is the acting Managing Director of Al Jazeera English where he oversees an editorial staff of over 400 people based in its centres of Doha, London, Washington DC and Kuala Lumpur, as well as in over 70 bureaus around the world. Giles first joined Al Jazeera in 2004 to work on the Arabic channel’s flagship investigative documentary show before moving to Al Jazeera English ahead of its launch in 2006. He began his career in the mid 1980’s as a freelance print journalist based in Lebanon covering that country’s civil war. Giles resides in Qatar where the Al Jazeera Media Network is headquartered. Al Jazeera English produces 24/7 news and current affairs programming for a worldwide TV audience of over 280 million households and mobile content for global digital consumers.
David Hearst – Editor in Chief Middle East Eye. Before this, Hearst was worked at The Guardian as its chief foreign leader writer. In his time, Hearst has covered stories ranging from the miner’s strike, the breakup of former Yugoslavia, the end of the Soviet Union, Chechnya and the backlash from loyalists of the Anglo-Irish agreement.
Dr Marc Jones – Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies Exeter University. His work focuses on political repression in Bahrain, and he is currently working to identify Twitter bots in the Gulf region. He has previously taught Middle East Politics at Tuebingen University, Newcastle and Durham University, and has published widely on new media in the Gulf.
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In 2011 the law ‘On Access to Public Information’ was adopted in Ukraine. This new law made it possible to request information from state authorities, revealing information that was previously inaccessible.
In the same year, five people from different parts of the country tried to invoke the law to reveal corrupt and frustratingly bureaucratic government officials.
Open Access brings together these five stories, told by five directors, all illustrating the lack of transparency, indifference, dominance of private motifs and lack of responsibility by the country’s leaders.
Directed by Volodymyr Tykhyy, Serhiy Andrushko, Jeanne Dovhych, Dmytro Konovalov and Dmytro Tiazhlov
Duration: 98′
Year: 2013
On the evening of 11 June 2013, the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras pulled the plug on ERT, Greece’s public broadcaster, after 75 years of continuous operation. Both TV and radio frequencies fell silent, making screens broadcast black and the FM to buzz.
The closure of ERT was an unheard-of political act that shocked Greek citizens, bringing back memories from the dark period of dictatorship. The silencing of public television resulted in a political conflict and provoked protests in a country already divided. It also caused a fierce international outrage from all around the world.
Directed by Yorgos Avgeropoulos
Duration: 65′
Year: 2013
Instituted in 1967, a year before the military government started violently censoring the press and torturing journalists who denounced the regime, the Law was clealy a legacy of those times. Among other things, it established that defamation was punishable by six months to three years in prison.
That’s why seven out of ten Ministers in the Tribunal agreed that it conflicted with the Constitutional right to freedom of press. “Press freedom can not be ruled by a law that was made to restrict it”, said Minister Menezes Direito.
From now on, press abuses will be ruled by the Civil and Penal Codes.
However, even though the repeal of such law – as a symbol of the repressive regime – was more than necessary, throwing it away altogether has left a vacuum in relation to the right to response. Even though that right is granted by the Constitution, there are no specifications as to how the offended person and the publishers should proceed. More than this, there is no penalty for outlets that publish defamatory stories.
That’s even more worrying in a country in which the media tends to be politically biased, that is, more interested in praising or criticizing the government of the day according to its own economical interests than in informing the public for the greater good.
The fact that six groups control no less than 668 TV channels, radio stations and newspapers in Brazil has definitely got a lot to do with it.
Media concentration is so high in Brazil that in December 2007, a BBC World Service survey found that Brazilians are more concerned about media concentration than citizens of any other country. From a sample of 1,500 respondents, eight out of ten are worried that private monopolisation of the media will lead to political bias.
It’s not rare to see articles in weekly magazines with unfounded accusations made by unnamed sources; their victims range from government officials to left-wing priests and the landless movement. Without any law on the matter – a draft law has been in the Congress for some years – the problem might just get worse.
That’s why the biggest national website about media, Observatório da Imprensa, has decided to open a section to publicize cases in which the right to respond has been violated. I’d say that’s where anyone who wants to check the other side of big stories in Brazil should start from now on.
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