Chilling effects
Guy Berger From UNESCO
The 4th annual conference on the Safety of Journalists was held at Oslo Metropolitan University 5 – 6 November under headline “the chilling effects”.
Guy Berger, Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development in UNESCO in Paris, spoke about “From global norms to national mechanisms for protecting journalists”.
“Unwarranted interference, fear and self-censorship” was the theme of Marilyn Clark, Professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Malta, the other keynote the first day.
Marilyn Clark from the University of Malta
Six investigative journalists showed practical experiences regarding «Safety and self-censorship». A number of around 60 participants in total presented papers in the afternoons.
Self-censorship and chilling effects in Colombia and Zimbabwe were in focus the second morning with keynotes from Marta Milena Barrios Correa at the Universidad del Norte in Colombia and Nhamo A. Mhiripiri at the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe.
Then attention was drawn towards Afghanistan, with a panel discussion about “How do journalists survive and tackle self-censorship in Afghanistan” with ambassador to Norway Shukria Barakzai. Also Mujeeb Khalvatgar, Director of NAI supporting Open Media in Afghanistan, Hasina Shirzad, student and journalist and Yama Wolasmal, anchor/reporter from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation participated, with Elisabeth Eide from OsloMet as moderator.
From left Hasina Shirzad, Mujeeb Khalvatgar, Shukria Barakzai, Yama Wolasmal and Elisabeth Eide.