International Journalism Forum: Media responsibility in emergency situations to be discussed in Tunis
The 2nd International Journalism Conference in Tunis will take place from March 17 to 19, 2022, as a forum for exchange and reflection on journalism and its practice. The responsibility of journalists in the context of emergency situations and constant upheavals that the world is facing today, such as climate change and pandemics, will be at the heart of the debates.
By Walid Khefifi, in Tunis
600 media professionals from 30 countries in Europe, Africa, and the Arab world will gather for three days at the Cité de la Culture in Tunis from March 17 to discuss the evolution of journalistic practices in the context of multiple emergencies. Initially scheduled for 2020, this 2nd edition of the International Journalism Forum of Tunis had been postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The theme chosen for this year’s conference organized by the French Association Journalism and Citizenship, with the support of several Tunisian and international partners, is « the urgency of journalism.
Several topics will be the focus of the discussions. First, two themes related to Covid-19, namely « journalism in the face of the health emergency » and « what vaccine against fake news? During the debates, panelists will address the role of « historians of the present time » as an essential link to promote public debate with scientists, with the aim of disseminating less anxiety-provoking information, to block the way to intoxication and not to contribute to conspiracy theories.
An important place will also be given to the theme of « Journalism Facing the Climate Emergency ». The colossal responsibility of the journalist in providing constructive information on climate change, with its droughts, floods, and distressing phenomena, will be reviewed in this chapter.
Other key themes are journalism and the urgency of investigation, journalism and the urgency of democracy, and journalism and the urgency of gender equality.
Focus on the state of journalism in four countries
The conference will also focus on media and information literacy (MIE) as a tool to fight against inequalities and prevent misinformation.
An evening organized in collaboration with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) will be devoted to a debate on the challenges facing journalists and the media in the Maghreb. Focus on the state of journalism in Tunisia, Niger, Yemen and Morocco will also be the focus of exchanges and sharing of experiences.
Workshops will also focus on the following topics: training in podcasting, journalists facing cyber-bullying, deconstructing an infox, start-ups that want to change journalism in Tunisia, state of play and perspectives of environmental journalism in the South of the Mediterranean, investigative journalism: how to deal with stress, pressure, and risks…
Other workshops will address the issues of access to the Internet in the most fragile contexts, the exchange of good practices around community radio, the safety of women journalists in crisis contexts, the use of constructive journalism to establish its economic model, and community radio.
Organized in November 2018, the first edition of the Tunis International Journalism Forum was held under the theme « Journalism useful to citizens ». Nearly 500 journalists from 30 countries had taken part.
The International Journalism Assizes are held annually in Tours (France), for the northern shore of the Mediterranean, and since 2018, in Tunis every two years, for the southern shore.
The detailed program of the 2nd International Journalism Forum which will take place at the City of Culture in Tunis: https://www.journalisme.com/
