Inaugural UK Media Freedom Forum launched by IBAHRI and partners
The inaugural UK Media Freedom Forum is taking place from 4–5 March 2025 at The City Law School, London, United Kingdom. Organised by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) and Justice for Journalists Foundation (JFJ), in partnership with City St George’s, University of London, the two-day Forum will explore the issues impacting media freedom across the globe, including strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), transnational repression, misinformation and disinformation, journalism in exile, economic pressure, spyware and surveillance, and the impact of artificial intelligence.
Registration is available for in-person or online attendance.
Registration is essential. Capacity is limited. Please only register if your attendance is certain.
Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, Chair of The High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom (the High Level Panel) and Director of the IBAHRI, which is Secretariat for the High Level Panel, will chair the first session, titled ‘Turning States’ media freedom commitments into action’. Professor Can Yeğinsu and Dario Milo, respectively Deputy Chair of The High Level Panel and Member of The High Level Panel, will also be participating together with a range of experts including investigative journalists, an editor, an exiled journalist and a representative of the United Nations Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights.
For the full line-up of speakers, visit: https://mediafreedomforum.co.uk/speakers/
Baroness Kennedy remarked: ‘The importance of a free press cannot be overstated. It is an integral part of a functioning democracy, and yet, media freedom across the world is under threat. Advances in artificial intelligence have made it increasingly difficult to spot misinformation, and spyware is being used to monitor journalists’ activities. Members of the press are stifled by strategic lawsuits, censorship, unlawful imprisonment and in some cases death. This Forum will provide a platform for journalists, policy makers, academics and civil society organisations to discuss existing and emerging problems and develop policy recommendations for states to take forward. Defending the freedom of the press requires concrete action. We must find ways to end the suppression and ensure freedom for the truth-tellers.’
Over the course of the two-day Forum, there will be eight sessions. Topics to be discussed include:
- turning states' media freedom commitments into action;
- how to limit the impact of corporate interests on media freedom;
- how European states are responding to the most pressing media freedom threats today;
- developments on anti-SLAPP legislation and regulation; and
- media freedom and democracy – how to fight together against weaponised disinformation and malign interference.
On the first evening of the Forum, Tuesday 4 March from 1745–1900, there will be a screening of the film Uncontrolled: Journalism under Surveillance (Sin control: periodismo bajo vigilancia) about the use of Pegasus spyware against journalists in Latin America. Following the screening the audience will be invited to discuss the film with its director Jonathan Bock, Executive Director of FLIP.
Register for the film screening and Q&A at the below link.
https://cityunilondon.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e52EiUcLBdNECou
The inaugural UK Media Freedom Forum has been realised in cooperation with the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists, which will launch its 2025 Annual Report during the event. UNESCO’s Global Media Defence Fund, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the law firm RPC and JFJ also supported the Forum’s creation.
ENDS
Contact: IBAHRI@int-bar.org
Notes to the reader:
- About the UK Media Freedom Forum
Today media freedom faces an ever-complex range of challenges, with an interconnectivity between the domestic and global environment. States and other stakeholders play a vital role in addressing these issues, but there is often a gap between their stated commitments and delivery. This UK Media Freedom Forum will assess the effectiveness of the UK and other states involved in global media freedom initiatives, including the 50+ members of the Media Freedom Coalition and stakeholder engagement with the United Nations, OSCE, the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee and Council of Europe when it comes to taking concrete action to defending media freedom. - The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), established in 1995 under Founding Honorary President Nelson Mandela, is an autonomous entity working to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law, and to preserve the independence of the judiciary and the legal profession worldwide.
- Find the IBAHRI on social media here:
- The International Bar Association (IBA), the global voice of the legal profession, is the foremost organisation for international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Established in 1947, shortly after the creation of the United Nations, with the aim of protecting and promoting the rule of law globally, the IBA was born out of the conviction that an organisation made up of the world's bar associations could contribute to global stability and peace through the administration of justice.
- Find the IBA on social media here:
Website page link for this news release:
Short link: tinyurl.com/34j2rzxw
Full link: www.ibanet.org/Inaugural-UK-Media-Freedom-Forum-launched-by-IBAHRI-and-partners