Sixty media professionals from across Africa will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge, skills, and networks as part of a new Chevening Fellowship programme announced by UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The Chevening Africa Media Freedom Fellowship will focus on promoting and protecting media freedom, and forms part of a global effort led by the UK and Canada to improve the safety of journalists.
Speaking at the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day celebrations, the foreign secretary said that the fellowship will enable sixty journalists and professionals working in media policy to draw experience from Britain’s leading media organisations.
The foreign secretary has previously spoken about the importance of defending a free media as a central element of British foreign policy. According to Reporters Without Borders, 2018 was the deadliest year on record for journalists. UNESCO confirms that in 2018 at least 99 journalists were killed, 348 were imprisoned, and 60 were held hostage.
Good discussion on media freedom w/ Amal Clooney. Discussed how we could work together to tackle those who act w/ impunity against journalists – including the Reuters journalists in Burma she represents – and how to shine a global spotlight on the vital necessity of media freedom pic.twitter.com/iwFtGDx86F
— Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) March 4, 2019
As part of the Media Freedom campaign, the UK and Canadian governments will co-host the world’s first ministerial summit on media freedom in London. Renowned human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who is currently representing two detained Reuters journalists, is serving as the UK foreign secretary’s special envoy on media freedom.
Chevening Scholars recently convened for discussions around the topic at the sixth annual Chevening Conference, during which Alastair King-Smith reiterated that being able to continue to access the truth was contingent on us defending media freedom.
A new leadership fellowship aimed at mid to senior-level Ethiopian public servants and government officials will also be launched. This fellowship will develop capacity in evidence-based policymaking, and will further develop fellows’ leadership and strategic capabilities.
UK universities will be invited to submit a bid to organise and host these two short-course fellowships from the end of May. Interested institutions are encouraged to contact us.
Scholars were urged to aid the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s media freedom campaign at the sixth annual Chevening Conference hosted at the University of Manchester on Friday, 12 April. 2018 was the deadliest year on record for journalists worldwide. Alastair King-Smith, Deputy Director of the Multilateral Policy Directorate at the FCO, encouraged scholars to help […]
The 2015 Chevening India Journalism Programme came to a conclusion with a captivating symposium organised by the fellows themselves themed Elephants in the newsroom: Challenges facing the Indian media today. The keynote speech was given by Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Emeritus Professor at the University of Westminster, and panellists during the day-long event included Dr Shakuntala Banaji […]
Chevening Alumna Hanan Youssef (2016) has won the short documentary category at the BBC Arabic Festival 2018 for her documentary titled The Town the Men Left. Youssef is one of six award winners from Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The Town the Men Left follows the Nubian women who, despite being stigmatised as divorcees, […]