Taking stock of international media partnerships

Over the course of two days, 21 international media support and advocacy organisations met to assess experiences and make recommendations in relation to joint international media partnerships organised by IMS. Based on the discussions, a report of recommendations for future partnerships emerged

– Joint international missions can give a lot of visibility to the issue of press freedom and serve as an amplifier for the activities that will take place in this respect, said Mogens Schmidt, Assistant Director-General in UNESCO.

Mr. Schmidt and 30 participants representing 20 international media organisations took part in the stock-taking exercise to assess successes, failures and challenges of the joint efforts.

– I’m very pleased with the turn out. Everyone we invited came to Copenhagen, and I take this as a token of commitment to the concept of joint international partnerships, said Jesper Højberg, Executive Director of IMS.

Positive feedback from participants

Upon conclusion of the seminar, IMS asked some of the participants to reflect on the outcome of the meeting.

Vincent Brossel, Asia coordinator in reporters Without Borders:

– I am a great fan of the international missions, so I was interested to see that IMS is thinking seriously about this and planning for the future. The most significant outcome was that so many people, and some them in high positions, came, because it means there is a real interest for such common processes. I had hoped for more decisions and plans to be agreed for the coming months, he said.

Jacqueline Park, Director of the Asia Pacific Regional Office of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said:

–    We covered so many issues that forced us to think through how we work. Over the course of these past two days, it actually made me think that what we have done so far has been pretty good, she said.

Anne Games, Executive Director of International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), said the seminar had been useful in sharing experiences and to evaluate the partnerships:

–    Clearly, the evaluation of missions, not already assessed, happened here. People were quite openly giving feedback. As for the outcome of the meeting, she said that expectations had been raised that would need follow-up.

Read the full report from the International Partnership Meeting in Copenhagen in September 2009 here.