Partnership for press freedom in Libya
In a bid to pool their efforts, representatives of 13 international and Arab media support organisations are visiting Libya to explore ways of strengthening independent media
The revolution and Muammar Gadaffi’s death barely a week ago has so far paved the way for a newly found freedom of expression in Libya and a freedom to establish new media.
With the liberation of Tripoli, the entire country has a window of opportunity to lay the foundations for media freedom and freedom of expression for all of Libya. To seize the moment, a delegation of 13 international and Arab media support organisations including IMS, the Doha Center for Media Freedoms and Community Media Network, are visiting the cities of Benghazi and Tripoli to look at ways of coordinating and optimising their expertise and impact in support of Libyan media.
The aim of the mission will be to assess the current situation and needs of the media, initiate an intensive dialogue with Libyan media and authorities and agree on concrete, joint project initiatives. Their programme will include meetings with media practitioners, officials of the National Transitional Council and workshops dealing with issues of media law, audio visual regulation, media safety and building a vibrant free media.
Media in Benghazi and Tripoli
The situation in the Benghazi/Eastern region is significantly different from the one in the newly liberated areas such as Tripoli. In Benghazi/the eastern region, an independent media sector has been established, although still fragile and not professionalized.
In Tripoli and other newly liberated areas independent media has yet to be established and existing national/state media are due to be reformed.
Since 2011 IMS has engaged in supporting development of an independent and professional media sector in Eastern Libya. Read more here.
The Partnership mission was organized by IMS, the Doha Center for Media Freedoms and Community Media Network. The delegation also includes representative of Internews (US), Free Press Unlimited (Holland), International News Safety, Sawt Al Hurr (Egypt) , PenMedia (Palestine), World Association of Newspapers, AMARC (Canada) and Arab Network for Human Rights Information (Egypt).
