In 2022 the members of the Media Freedom Coalition took a range of actions to promote media freedom at home and abroad. For the first time, these actions have now been brought together in an annual activity report which can be downloaded here.
The report has been prepared by the MFC Secretariat, a dedicated team of staff that supports the Coalition through coordination, administration, communications, facilitating decision-making, and monitoring the activities of the MFC. The Secretariat was established in July 2022 and is hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The report includes actions taken jointly by multiple member countries, under the auspices of the MFC, as well as actions taken by individual member countries on media freedom, such as domestic reforms.
- 40 actions on media freedom carried out by embassies involved in the Diplomatic Network Initiative
- In line with the recommendations of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, over 1,400 emergency visas were granted to journalists and human rights defenders across 8 member countries of the MFC
- 14 cases acted on through central governments of the MFC
- Examples of domestic actions and reforms undertaken within MFC member countries from 6 continents
- $1.3 million made available as financial grants by the Global Media Defence Fund
As well as activities, the report also records some feedback and lessons learned, including on the MFC’s evolving approach to public statements in urgent cases.
In an Annex to the report, the MFC Secretariat has provided responses and updates on the recommendations featured in the 2022 evaluation of the MFC, “Reset Required? Evaluating the Media Freedom Coalition after its first two years.”
It is important to note that many activities of the Media Freedom Coalition cannot be shared publicly, due to the sensitive nature of the work concerned. Where this is the case, the MFC Secretariat has aggregated the numbers of activities that have taken place in specific categories.
