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Philippines: insights from the senior editors' conference in Manila

03-11-2011 Photo gallery

Fifty media leaders from the Asia-Pacific region shared their views and concerns on 13 and 14 October at a "Reporting on violence and emergencies" conference hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The media of East Asia, South-east Asia and the Pacific have an important role to play in covering conflict, violence and the issues faced by vulnerable groups. At times, reporting on these situations puts the media's own safety at risk. We have collected some of the participants' comments.

    • The regional conference brought together senior representatives of media organizations to share concerns and best practices on reporting violence and other emergencies.
      © ICRC / Fermin Escuredo
    • “#mediamanila2011 debating neutrality, balance and objectivity… Have we moved from expecting journalists to be neutral to taking a stance?" tweeted Thin Lei Win of Reuters AlertNet during the conference. During her presentation on social media, beneficiary communications and humanitarian reporting, Thin said that while social media democratized reporting, it can also "create a lot of white noise".
      © ICRC / Fermin Escuredo
    • Speaking about "covering children, from privacy to violence issues", Uni Lubis of ANTV in Indonesia said the role of media was to raise awareness on children in vulnerable situations and to help guard their rights.
      © ICRC / Fermin Escuredo
    • Yu Zheng, a producer, senior editor and columnist for Xinhua News Agency, presents on the challenges of reporting on North Korea during the panel on ‘Reporting on violence and emergencies: opportunities and challenges’.
      © ICRC / Fermin Escuredo
    • Aid agencies and media can have a mutually beneficial relationship, according to Patrick Fuller, the Federation's experienced Communications Manager for Asia Pacific. "Aid agencies can put things in context for journalists and provide quality online news materials,” he said, adding, “The media can help them to raise awareness and funds, and be a catalyst for action."
      © ICRC / Fermin Escuredo

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