International Media Conference opens in Alexandria with the Anna Lindh Foundation, UN Alliance of Civilizations and the International Center for Journalists

Professional and civic journalists from across the globe, including Spain, France, Pakistan, Egypt and the UK, have gathered at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina for an international seminar focused on the contribution of media to bridging gaps in mutual perceptions across the region.

Speaking at the opening of the seminar, Andreu Claret, Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation said: “Reporting across cultures means in effect reporting across complexity, working to communicate the rapid transformation of our societies into multicultural, multiethnic realities,” adding that “While freedom of expression is a pre-requisite of reporting across cultures, as well as the mobility of journalists, it is also essential to partner together in ensuring the media can play a central and responsible role in bridging the gap in cultural relations as opposed to widening it.”

The Anna Lindh Foundation also announced that it would be launching in 2010 its first Report on Intercultural Trends in the Union for the Mediterranean Region, which includes a thematic focus on the role of media in shaping mutual perceptions across the two shores of the Mediterranean, as well as that its forthcoming 43 Country Forum in Barcelona from 4th to 7th March will include media seminars on ‘Perceptions’ and ‘Reporting on Migration’.

Joyce Barnathan, President of the International Center for Journalists, said in her opening intervention: “It is an incredible time of media change, a time in which we can choose to use the new tools we have to expose issues to improve our societies or to work negatively to disseminate hate and promote misunderstanding. The Anna Lindh Foundation and the UN Alliance of Civilisations play a leading role in bridging difference and promoting the positive role of media at the regional and international level.”

The meeting in Alexandria is being co-organised by the International Center of Journalists and the UN Alliance of Civilisations, in partnership with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Anna Lindh Foundation, and will also see the consolidation of the recently developed ‘Mediterranean Expert Finder’ for journalists which will be launched at the Anna Lindh Forum in Barcelona by the UN Alliance, European Commission and the Anna Lindh Foundation.