Senior officials and politicians echo the NMC’s ongoing and focussed efforts to secure better practical ‘enabling environment’ for everyday news reporting.

Denial of access for journalists, rules preventing distribution of news material, intimidation leading to self-censorship – and public figures who would rather embrace uncritical influencers than engage with independent newsgatherers.

That is the day-to-day reality on the ground for reporters, news photographers and video journalists around the world and it is this increasingly hostile working environment which provides the background to increasing concerns expressed by senior public policy makers and the news media sector itself.

The News Media Coalition is uniquely focused on the practical challenges and is promoting a Primary Source Journalism Framework of necessary conditions for quality newsgathering to flourish and combat disinformation. The NMC’s explanation of Primary Source Journalism is here and the Framework is here.

This concern is increasing resonating with governments, institutions and Press freedom advocacy groups alongside issues of physical and online harms suffered by journalists working across a range of fields, from politics to sport, social justice to culture.

• Mariya Gabriel, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), referenced this practical challenge for newsgatherers at a spotlight event in July. She said: ‘States should build sustained partnerships and support mechanisms to defend enabling conditions for independent journalism as an integral component of development, peacebuilding and humanitarian response.’
• Pressure on independent news journalists were also highlighted early this month in a joint statement by European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Maria Virkkunen, Kaja Kallas, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Commissioner Michael McGrath. They said democracy and informed citizenship ‘endures through citizens casting votes with confidence they will count; judges delivering justice independently of political pressure; journalists reporting in the face of intimidation…’ Yet, democracy is under threat globally. Independent media are increasingly attacked, disinformation spreads faster than ever before…’
• McGrath’s Joint Communication in November last year, ‘European Democracy Shield: Empowering Strong and Resilient Democracies’, promised an update of the ‘Recommendation on the safety of journalists to support a stronger safety and enabling environment for journalists and for quality news reporting (primary source journalism) in society.
• At a July plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) rapporteur Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen said: “Media freedom is not a marginal issue. It is a democratic imperative. When critical journalism is perceived as a threat to political image rather than a contribution to public debate, press freedom is at severe risk.” Referencing challenges to sports journalism in particular, she said: ‘The space for independent sports journalism is shrinking. Access to athletes, competitions and institutions is becoming more controlled. Accreditation systems are increasingly restricted,” she said. Journalists, she added, “are often required to sign agreements limiting the use of content or imposing conditions that would be unacceptable in other areas of public interest reporting.’
• From within the news industry, Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni in delivering the Andrew Olle Media Lecture in Sydney said it was vital journalists could bring three things to a story: ‘The training, judgement, and access to report what is actually happening. Original reporting, on the ground, costs money.’ The federal government of Australia has also adopted references to Primary Source Journalism in its official communications in recognition of the importance of sustainable everyday quality reporting of its communities.
• In London, Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), has expressly backed news journalism. She told the Society of Editors’ annual conference: ‘Whether it’s independent news, free and fearless journalism, or great entertainment and storytelling, which helps to shape and define us as a nation as we shape and define it, it’s my belief that the media is an essential part of that civic space, and that we have to nurture it, and we have to support it.’
• And in the States, where critics of President Trump have accused him of seeking to silence news journalism by excluding selected news outlets from crucial White House media sessions, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), said it ‘stands with the journalists and news organizations targeted by the ban.’ It added: ‘For visual journalists, physical proximity is indispensable. They must be present to photograph and record events as they unfold, including unscripted moments that cannot be recreated afterward.’
• The NPPA, with which the News Media Coalition has cooperated over many years, called upon on the White House to ‘immediately restore these journalists’ credentials and their access. No administration should decide who may document the presidency based on whether it approves of the resulting coverage’.

On October 13^th and `4^th, the News Media Coalition (NMC) will stage an exclusive invitation-only event in Brussels, bringing together NMC members, policymakers and the wider news media sector to explore how Primary Source Journalism can be better understood. valued, enabled and supported.

The NMC is an international not for profit organisation which works to safeguard the news sector from arbitrary controls or restrictions on newsgathering, news distribution, copyright ownership and content use. NMC Members include major publishing houses, national and news international agencies: Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Associated Newspapers, Australian Associated Press, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, EFE Agencia, ESI Media, European Pressphoto Agency, European Publishers Council, Hayters, Getty Images, Guardian Media Group, News UK, PA Media, Reach, Shutterstock, SNTV, Telegraph Media Group, Thomson Reuters and Tortoise Media.