International Workshop on Investigative Journalism:
A South-South Dialogue
Journalists face a number of threats and risks in their day-to-day work. News about journalists being arrested, tortured and even killed due to their investigative work are not uncommon. Self-censorship of journalists and media vehicles often represents another cruel reality as it impedes the freedom of information in a society and deters the citizens from accessing relevant and necessary information for making their choices and building better lives. It hampers the consolidation of democratic institutions and poses a threat to democracy itself. In many parts of the world government actions appear to fail to ensure the necessary legal framework to protect journalists. Governance structures tend to threaten freedom of expression if adequate policy coordination between the Judiciary, Executive and Legislative branches is lacking.
As a result of the above difficulties faced by investigative journalists, sensitive issues, such as corruption, public management failures, violence, poverty and social exclusion are not adequately covered by the media in many contexts. An accurate and responsible coverage of the challenges faced by vulnerable population groups is difficult in our developing world. For example, social policies that are playing a significant role in improving people's well-being do often not receive the adequate reporting by media vehicles.
As a response to the above, the Embassy of Switzerland in Brazil, the UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), the Attorney-General Office (Procuradoria Geral da República, Brazil), and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation - in partnership with Mercado Ético - are organising together the International Workshop on Investigative Journalism: A South-South Dialogue to be held on November 22 2010 in São Paulo, Brazil. It will provide an opportunity for a critical and constructive analysis of the governance structures required to ensuring freedom of expression and guaranteeing legal protection for journalists doing investigative work. It will advocate for the strengthened role and greater responsibility of investigative journalism in society and will debate practical steps and policy interventions required for enhancing its contributions to development.
The workshop will enable participants to highlight and discuss – under a comparative perspective – the challenges the relevant actors face day-to-day in exercising their profession and duties. Sensitive issues, such as freedom of information and governments' transparency and accountability, will be on the agenda. As a South-South Learning event, the recent experiences, innovations and challenges of different countries will be discussed in the workshop.
