Greater support to professional representative bodies for media.

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Press Freedom

WAN-IFRA Supervisory Board

COPENHAGEN, 27.05.2024

At the conclusion of their annual meeting in Copenhagen, the Board of Directors of WAN-IFRA issued a series of resolutions addressing critical issues facing the global media landscape. These resolutions underscore WAN-IFRA’s commitment to promoting a sustainable business ecosystem for the news, safeguarding media integrity, ensuring the safety of journalists, and upholding press freedom in a pivotal year for global democracy.

The Board of the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), meeting during the 75th World News Media Congress taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark 27th– 29th May 2024, underlines the importance of professional media representative bodies as vital stakeholders in a multi-sector approach to strengthening democratic and economic development.

Acknowledging the recently updated OECD Development Co-operation Principles for Relevant and Effective Support to Media and the Information Environment,

Drawing specific focus to Section 3 of the ‘Principles’, outlining the need for a ‘whole of system approach’ for support to the media and information environment,

Welcoming the inclusion of media representative bodies in this ‘whole of system approach’,

Recognising one of WAN-IFRA’s unique strengths as a global representative body for the world’s press is its member network of national media associations.

The WAN-IFRA Board resolves:

  1. To reiterate the importance of the need for strong, diverse, and professional representative bodies as essential stakeholders for effective support to the media sector wherever they operate.
  2. To seek to incorporate greater support to existing, and resources for new media representative bodies, wherever relevant, in its Media Freedom programming and strategic agenda.
  3. To continue to advocate in coordination with WAN-IFRA member associations on issues of national, regional, and international concern in relation to media freedom and media development.
  4. To engage, where relevant, WAN-IFRA member associations in collaborative work to strengthen the position of existing professional representative bodies within the information ecosystem, as well as in support of efforts to establish the presence of new bodies in under-represented regions of the world under WAN-IFRA’s global mandate.