“Tunisian Girl” Lina ben Mhenni passed away

on 7. February 2020

Lina ben Mhenni, globally known as blogger “Tunisian Girl” before, during and after the Tunisian revolution in 2011, passed away last week, only 36 years old. She visited Norway and JMIC’s predecessor for a conference in 2013, and we also met her in Tunisia.  She showed immense courage and inspired people from all generations in her home country. In an obituary published by Electronic Frontier Foundation, she is quoted characterizing digital activism: as “an efficient tool against censorship and dictatorship”, but she still believed that “action in the digital world must be combined with actions in the real world” (Jillian C. York, 27 Jan 2020).

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Indonesia-cooperation

on 30. August 2019

Photo: Indonesian Embassy

In late June this year, JMIC co-organized an event with the Embassy of Indonesia in Oslo under the title ‘The Role of Civil Societies in Facing Radicalism in Indonesia’, with two invited scholars of Islam in Indonesia, Dr. Marsudi Syuhud and Dr. Abdul Muki. Read More

No platforming and free expression

on 10. May 2019

JMICs two-day conference on the above topic took place earlier this week, with appr. 30 speakers and panellists. The participants represented a diversity of views and experiences, which was demonstrated both by the Scandinavian variety when it comes to the #metoo campaign and treatment of right-wing extremists, to a discussion on the invitation of Steve Bannon to the Nordic Media Days in Bergen. Experiences from countries where giving platform to extremists entails mainstreaming terrorists (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tunisia, etc.) were exchanged. War reporters discussed the challenge of embedding and giving voice to jihadists. And a lively conversation with Peter Münster from Facebook took place after screening the film “The Cleaners”.

Keynote speaker Eric Heinze discussed in-depth arguments for and against No platforming.

A short text cannot pay justice to such a full program. The organizers will consider a publication from this conference.

 

Doing the Rig on Press Freedom with Palestinian journalism students

on 12. December 2017

Teachers and students with their certificate at the last day of the Rig on press freedom. Foto: Private

Practical, journalistic work investigating the conditions of press freedom in eight countries. This was the content of the Rig on press freedom at An-Najah National University in Nablus, The West Bank, Palestine. The Rig is a learning tool by which students are trained in working practically with journalistic methods learning about the conditions on press freedom. During five intensive days, 64 students worked with journalistic articles about the conditions for press freedom in Marocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Norway.

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Focus: Investigative journalism

on 9. December 2017

 

Hamida El Bour is the Director of L’Institut de presse et des sciences de l’information (IPSI) at Université de la Manouba

Journalists from Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia came to Tunis 6-7 December to attend a workshop in investigative journalism.

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Renewed support for journalist education

on 26. June 2017

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given JMIC a grant that will enable us to continue the activities with partners in the Global South planned for the next two years.

JMIC´s aim is to build institutions for democracy and freedom of expression: ”Support of good practices in journalist education, independent media in vulnerable countries, protection of journalists working in conflict zones and journalists’ access to information. ”

In the coming year, several activities are planned. A workshop on extremism and social media is planned this autumn in Tunisia – as well as a regional security course next year. A regional security course is also planned in Uganda.

In cooperation with the Article 19 offices in North Africa, Eastern Africa and South Asia regional workshops on access to information are planned in Tunisia, Kenya and Nepal. We will also strengthen the cooperation with UNESCO.

The Rig on press freedom will be introduced in Palestine, a conference on gender and media is scheduled in South Asia, and cooperation will continue in Iran and Afghanistan. Besides, a regional cooperation project on visual journalism in China will continue. Development of teaching material is an ongoing activity, and a web portal will be prioritized.

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Human rights on the agenda

on 5. May 2017

Elsebeth Frey and Solveig Steien presented the Rig at an international conference in Oslo last year.

This year they will investigate the situation in Afghanistan, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Poland, Tunisia and USA.

70 students in seven groups will make articles, interviews, pictures, videos and audios about the media freedom in one of the countries.

Their stories will be published on the school´s webpage – Journalen – during the third week.

The multimedia Rig about press freedom around the world has been organized eight times. It was called one of the best European pedagogical teaching models for Transmedia Journalism by Integrated Journalism in Europe (IJIE) in 2015 http://learning.euromain.net/