International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerci ...

and the improvement of

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in October, 1950, and has members in over 120 countries . IPI's membership is made up of editors and media executives. IPI has a membership category: "IPI Leading Journalists", which is open to heads of media departments, bureau chiefs and media correspondents. In several countries, including

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, IPI members established national-level committees aiming to support IPI in its work to improve the situation for media. IPI has a consultative status with the UN,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

and the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

. IPI is a member of the

International Freedom of Expression Exchange IFEX, formerly International Freedom of Expression Exchange, is a global network of 124 independent non-governmental organisations that work at a local, national, regional, or international level to defend and promote freedom of expression as a ...

, a global network of non-governmental organisations that monitors press freedom and free expression violations worldwide. It is a member of the

Tunisia Monitoring Group The Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG) is a coalition of 21 free-expression organisations that belong to the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), a global network of non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the righ ...

, a coalition of 16 free expression organisations that lobbies the Tunisian government to improve its human rights record. In October 2006, the US National Television Academy (NTA) honoured IPI with an International

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

Award for its press freedom work.

Activities

Protest letters

IPI monitors press freedom around the world and responds to threats and attacks on journalists and media outlets by sending protest letters to governments and inter-governmental organisations. These threats are often brought to IPI's attention by its members, many of whom experience such difficulties first-hand while carrying out their profession.

Press freedom missions

IPI leads missions to countries where press freedom is under threat, meeting with government officials, diplomats, journalists and non-governmental organisations, and providing legal representation and support in court cases.

Research

IPI undertakes extensive research on issues relevant to the media and circulates severa
publications
on press freedom, including the quarterly magazine ''IPI Global Journalist''. IPI regularly scrutinises new media laws and provides governments with recommendations on how to bring their legislation in line with internationally accepted standards on freedom of expression. IPI also monitors journalists killed worldwide. Since 1997, it has kept

of media casualties.

World Press Freedom Review

Each year, IPI publishes an authoritative report on media violations around the world

World Press Freedom Heroes

In 2000, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, IPI named 50 journalists "World Press Freedom Heroes". Since then, , ten more have been so named, including, posthumously, the murdered journalists Hrant Dink of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and Anna Politkovskaya of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

."World Press Freedom Heroes"
. IPI.

IPI Free Media Pioneer Award

Established in 1996, the IPI Free Media Pioneer Award honours individuals or organisations that fight against great odds to ensure freer and more independent media in their country or region. The award is co-sponsored by the US-based Freedom Forum, a non-partisan, international foundation dedicated to free press and free speech. Recipients of the award started with '' NTV'' in Russia in 1996, the ''

Alliance of Independent Journalists The Alliance of Independent Journalists ( id, Aliansi Jurnalis Independen, abbreviated as AJI) is an Indonesian organization that promotes press freedom in the country. The AJI was founded in 1994 by Satrio Arismunandar, Ahmad Taufik, Goenawan Moh ...

'' in Indonesia in 1997, and '' Radio B92'' in Serbia in 1998. In 2022, there were seven awardees, ''

ABO Local Media Development Agency The ABO blood group system is used to denote the presence of one, both, or neither of the A and B antigens on erythrocytes. For human blood transfusions, it is the most important of the 43 different blood type (or group) classification syste ...

'', '' Hromadske'', '' Slidstvo.info'', '' StopFake'', '' The Kyiv Independent'', ''

Ukraїner Ukraїner is an educational, multimedia Ukrainian studies project, the materials of which are based on the results of socio-cultural expeditions. Ukraїner was created by journalist and writer Bohdan Lohvynenko as a volunteer media project. T ...

'' and '' Ukrainska Pravda'' in Ukraine. IPI described the Ukrainian media organisations as having "

isen Isen may refer to: *Isen, Bavaria, a town in Germany *Isen, Kagoshima, a town in Japan *Isen (river) in Bavaria, Germany *The fictitious River Isen in Tolkien's literature *ISEN, a group of three French higher education establishments *Nissae Isen, ...

to face head-on the challenges and dangers brought by Russia's war of aggression with courage, quality reporting, and a steadfast commitment to serving local communities at a time of immense need".

IPI World Congress

Each year, IPI holds an international congress where several hundred publishers, editors and senior journalists from around the world gather to debate and discuss a range of issues that concern the fight for a free media.

References

General bibliography

* * *

External links

* {{Authority control International journalism organizations Freedom of expression organizations Organizations established in 1950