The University of Liverpool is one of the top UK universities, member of the prestigious Russell Group of 24 leading UK universities.
The Worlds of Journalism Study is a cross-national collaborative project assessing the state of journalism in the world through representative surveys with journalists.
UNESCO is the lead UN Agency for promoting freedom of expression and safety of journalists as part of its mandate to “promote the free flow of ideas by word and image”.
Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
Free Press Unlimited is an international press freedom organisation. Its mission is to make independent news and information available to everyone. FPU believes that everyone has the right to independent, reliable and timely information to control their living conditions and to make the right decisions. To achieve this FPU supports independent media and journalists worldwide through its advocacy work, emergency assistance, advice, trainings, capacity building and awareness raising. Its mission is to ensure that independent news and information remains available to everyone, especially people in countries where there is no or limited press freedom.
In regard to journalists’ safety FPU is committed to achieve and promote good legislation and end impunity for crimes against journalists, and supports journalists worldwide who are confronted with (online) harassment, intimidation, legal proceedings, or violence because of their work.
Core values are Independent, Inspiration, Inventive, Dedicated and Tailor-made.
- Journalists' safety focus:
- Digital, Financial, Legal, Physical, Psychological
History
Free Press Unlimited was established following a merger of two Dutch media development organisations in 2011, with the aim of supporting press freedom and freedom of expression worldwide. In the last decade, Free Press Unlimited has grown exponentially both in size and scope, and continues to deliver high quality work focussed on supporting independent media and journalism.
This would not have been possible without significant efforts to professionalise the organisation. These include setting up a structure that enables learning and development across the board. All of this has earned Free Press Unlimited not only international recognition, but also the trust of its partners around the world which is built on strong and ongoing relationships. Working collaboratively with partners on the ground to design tailor-made interventions to solve the global and local challenges they are faced with is part of Free Press Unlimited’s DNA.
Over the last 10 years, FPU has been able to engage with, commit and offer support to hundreds of media initiatives and to provide support to thousands of journalists in distress globally. At the same time, it has advocated for a more structured and unified approach towards press freedom as the cornerstone of a functioning democracy.
We have helped independent media become more resilient and developed innovative projects such as the whistle-blowers platform Publeaks, the online learning platform Totem, the global emergency fund Reporters Respond, and the A Safer World for the Truth initiative. As a result, Free Press Unlimited received the prestigious Dutch ‘Geuzenpenning’ award in 2015 which is given to persons or organisations who have fought for democracy and against dictatorship, racism and discrimination. This was followed in 2022 by another highly acclaimed Dutch award ‘De Tegel’, presented by Dutch journalists in recognition of the work to save journalists.
Geographic scope / network
Free Press Unlimited is international in scope and collaborates with 120 local media partners in 54 countries. Its emergency safety work assisted over 2500 journalists under threat in 106 countries in the past 3 years.
Key actions and/or campaigns
FPU works in 3 major themes:
Safety of Journalists: The main thematic programme of FPU, which includes physical, psycho-social, digital and the legal domains equally. The approach is based on three pillars: Prevention, Protection and Prosecution. Based on those the FPU advocates to put press freedom higher on the political agenda and provide support to journalists worldwide. Additionally, FPU developed a curriculum for safety training specifically tailored to women journalists. FPU manages the ‘Reporters Respond’ fund that provides direct financial assistance, legal support, and safety advice to journalists in distress. Finally, with the ‘A Safer World For The Truth’ project, FPU re-opens and investigates cold cases of murdered journalists.
Media Resilience and Viability: the capacity of media to operate under sound political, legal and economic conditions to flourish independently and sustainably. Free Press Unlimited adopts an integrated approach that does include, but is not exclusively focused on, business model development. Free Press Unlimited works closely with partners to find tailor-made and innovative solutions to increase their ability to face the political, economic and legal challenges to which they are exposed.
Media in shrinking Civic spaces: This theme includes ethical journalism, accountability, professional journalism, media in exile, and quality journalism. Shrinking civic space worldwide calls for support in countries that are not necessarily in conflict but where media freedom is significantly at stake. FPU offers advice and mediation for journalists working in such areas.
Cross Cutting Themes: FPU in its work with partners works on Equity, diversity and Inclusion and improving the Enabling Environment. FPU is driving and part of the international CSO Safety of Journalists Coalition, the Journalists in Distress Network, the Media Freedom Rapid Response Network and the Coalition Against Online Violence.
This is underpinned by campaigns such as the ‘Stop violence against journalists!’ and ‘The Media Lifeline Ukraine’.
Key outputs
Roughly 100 projects in 50 countries with key indicators of success formulated in annual plans
Membership of 15 international advocacy and pressure groups and coalitions for the safety of journalists and survival of journalism.
Financial and Organizational Annual reports and plus-minus 10 audit reports on donor projects
Annual ISO quality management performance audit
Methodology of key outputs
Free Press Unlimited employs a knowledge and quality team that monitors, assesses, and reports on the achievements and failures of FPU’s programming. It initiates and mentors internal PMEL efforts, produces annual reports, organizes audits for ISO and manages a knowledge website that reports on findings of FPu and other organizations relevant to the terrain.
Key Priorities for next 2 years
1. Work to develop a standing investigation task force for journalist murder.
2. Improvement of collaborative and comparable data on oflline and online harms, leading to enable preventive action for journalist safety
Monitoring of threats to journalism safety
Yes, we work on improving capacity of local monitoring organisations
Types of threats monitored
All listed under the human rights framework: Murder, torture, unwarranted detention, and other harms, for which a taxonomy has been developed in collaboration with CFOM of Sheffield University.
Methodology of monitoring
1. Trend analysis based on the hundreds of annual requests from journalists to the Reporters Respond emergency fund.
2. Working with Civil Society actors to improve the Voluntary National Reports for the UN SDG agenda in communities of practice.
