The Media Diversity Institute (MDI) is a London-based non-governmental organisation working with the media to improve reporting on ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality and other diversity issues. The mission of MDI is to promote "responsible journalism as a means to improve inter-community relations, increase tolerance and encourage dialogue among individuals and groups coming from different backgrounds." MDI has worked with organisations such as

Internews Internews Network, now Internews, is a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in California, formed in 1982. It was founded by David M. Hoffman, Kim Spencer, and Evelyn Messinger. The president and CEO is Jeanne Bourgault. Internews Europe is an in ...

, the

International Federation of Journalists The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is the largest global union federation of journalists' trade unions in the world. It represents more than 600,000 media workers from 187 organisations in 146 countries. The IFJ is an associate ...

, Article 19, and the

European Federation of Journalists The European Federation of Journalists is the European regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists. It is the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, representing about 320,000 journalists in 71 journalists’ orga ...

. MDI is also a member of the

Ethical Journalism Network The Ethical Journalism Network (EJN) is an organisation created to 'strengthen the craft of journalism and to promote for the public benefit high ethical standards in journalism' was created in 2011 to strengthen journalism in the face of crisis. A ...

Background

MDI was founded in 1997 by journalist Milica Pesic, who was working at the time for NYU Center for War, Peace and the News Media. MDI works on an international scale, but has a European focus. MDI works to engage, educate and train the actors in society who have influence over media coverage of diversity. This includes media decision makers (owners, editors, managers), journalists, academics, students,

Civil Society Organisations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

and governmental organisations. They also organise conferences on these topics.

Projects

MDI's first large scale media diversity project, The Reporting Diversity Network (RDN), was launched at a conference in November 1998 with keynote speakers

Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff (; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a histo ...

and Jean-Paul Marthoz. RDN's work focused on Central and Eastern Europe as well as the newly independent former Soviet states. They have also been involved in addressing the deaths of

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

journalists and editors. Other projects that MDI have been involved in include Dune Voices, Get the Trolls Out, and Media Against Hate.

In other media

The collaboration between MDI and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in developing a guide on countering hate speech was referred to in an article in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', October 17, 2016. A video broadcast produced by MDI's Dune Voices project was published on the BBC website on 30 December 2016. MDI contributed to the Journal for Applied Journalism and Media Studies in 2017. MDI's founder Milica Pesic presented concrete and detailed examples of how MDI has worked to promote inclusive journalism and diversity in the media in many different countries and regions.

References

{{reflist

External links

Media Diversity Institute Official Website
1997 establishments in the United Kingdom Communications and media organisations based in the United Kingdom Communications and media organisations based in England