Invitation

UNESCO WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY LECTURE
Hosted by the Pacific Media Centre and supported by the New Zealand National
Commission for UNESCO and the School of Communication Studies

Press freedom, social media and the citizen

Professor Mark Pearson
Griffith University

Friday, May 3, 5.30-7.30pm
Communications Precinct
Lecture Theatre WG126
Sir Paul Reeves Building
2 Governor Fitzroy Place
Auckland City

Does social media mean press freedom is now for everyone?

The theme for this year’s UNESCO World Press Freedom Day on May 3, “Safe to speak: Securing freedom of expression in all media”, broadens the debate. It opens the way for an exploration of the libertarian origins of press freedom and the advent of social media and citizen journalism at a time when we are looking for new models of media responsibility and ethics – beyond a social responsibility model – some of which embrace cultural and religious notions of truth and story-telling.

Dr Mark Pearson is Professor of Journalism and Social Media at Griffith University, Australia, and has long been an advocate of press freedom. He is the Australian correspondent of the Paris-based global media freedom advocacy organisation Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders). Professor Pearson has combined careers in teaching and journalism. He was special reports editor of The Australian newspaper and his work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, The Fiji Times, the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association Bulletin and Crikey.com.au

Over the past two decades, Professor Pearson has also been involved with Pacific journalism at several levels. As author of The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law (4th edition with Mark Polden, Allen & Unwin, 2011), he has conducted media law training sessions for Pacific journalists in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga. Professor Pearson is on the editorial board of the Pacific Journalism Review and is a former editor of the Australian Journalism Review. His latest book is Blogging and Tweeting Without Getting Sued (Allen & Unwin, 2012). He blogs from journlaw.com and tweets from @journlaw

Also, the new International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) documentary Media Freedom in the Pacific will be screened.

Live streaming link at AUT On Demand: http://tinyurl.com/cryjgu6
ends

© Scoop Media