F.Y.I.

The Courier-Mail launches Journalism Matters special series

The Courier-Mail has launched a special series called Journalism Matters with the aim of highlighting the “significance of journalism and why the freedom to report only really does matter in the current global climate”.

The announcement:

The Courier-Mail has launched a special series called Journalism Matters to highlight the signi­ficance of journalism and why the freedom to report openly really does matter in the current global climate.

The series will feature stories from some of Australia’s leading print and broadcast journalists, from a diverse range of media outlets, who have worked to report without restriction in the face of persecution and threat to their personal safety.

Journalism Matters was launched by The Courier-Mail editor Christopher Dore following the guilty conviction of Australian journalist Peter Greste in Egypt in June this year.

Greste was sentenced to seven years in prison for “falsifying news and having a negative impact on overseas perceptions of Egypt”. His conviction was met with international condemnation due to the nature of the trial and lack of applicable evidence presented and the sentence.

Mr Dore said: “Journalism Matters is a reminder to all of us who enjoy freedom of press that the work done by many journalists around the globe is often dangerous. It requires a tenacious determination to uncover and share stories that would otherwise go untold.

“This campaign is a timely reminder about the real difference journalism makes to the way people live around the world and that many areas in the world do not have the press freedom that we enjoy and too often take for granted.’

“Right now there are journalists from around the world in Ukraine, including our own Charles Miranda and photographer Ella Pellegrini, who are working in an unstable and dangerous conflict zone to uncover the heartbreaking stories of the MH17 disaster.”

Journalism Matters has already featured broadcast journalist Hugh Riminton who recounted his experiences during the 1987 Fijian coup; ABC correspondent Mark Willacy on the desperation of mothers searching for their sons in Abu Ghraib in Baghdad in 2003 and News Corp Australia senior reporter Paul Toohey on the kindness of strangers in the middle of a crisis.

Articles from other leading Australian and international journalists who have reported, and are reporting on, the stories that change the world will be published in coming weeks.

Journalists who have pieces to contribute can email The Courier-Mail opinion editor Margaret Wenham at margaret.wenham@news.com.au.

Source: News Corp media release

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