Forums have been held around the world...

Since 1991 there have been 22 Forums in 14 countries. ICF's contact with 2,000 media people in 116 countries is maintained by a computerised mailing list. It has been through the initiative of many of these people that Forums have taken place on most continents. 

The following are themes covered by some of the Forums: 

1991 Caux, Switzerland - Inauguration Forum - Communications and a Free Society
1992 Le Touquet, France - Media Initiatives for Progress
1993 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia - A Moral and Cultural Role for the Media
1993 Cantigny, Illinois, USA - American Media seek a New Direction
1994 Kazimierz Dolny, Poland - Freedom and Responsibility - Dilemma of the Media
1995 Toronto, Canada The Media and Ethnicity
1996 Dobogoko, Hungary - Which Way for the Media of Central Europe
1997 Sydney, Australia - The Role and Responsibility of the Media
1998 Pardubice, Czech Republic - The Media's Role in building a New and Outgoing Europe
1999 London, UK - The Media and Public Confidence
1999 Kingston, Jamaica - The Media and Society in the Caribbean
1999 Caux, Switzerland - Formation of the Media for the 21st Century
2000 Caux, Switzerland - Communication and the Arts
2000 Sarajevo, Bosnia - The Media-a Decisive Force in building a Free and Just
Society
2001 Denver, Colorado, USA - American Media and the World Community
2001 Scotland, three cities - How the Media affect Society
2003 Cape Town, South Africa - Changing Media for a Changing Society
2004 Le Touquet, France – The Media and Public Confidence
2006 Delhi, India – The Media and Governance 
2007 London, UK - Middle East and the Media
2008 London, UK - War Reporting – Where does a Journalist’s Duty Lie?
2008 London, UK - An African Conversation
 

HOW THE ICF BEGAN

By William Porter

It is unlikely that any change of direction in human behaviour and purpose takes place just for one reason or because of one thing. Even before a change occurs, there are elements at work that provoke it. It is the consequence of a number of factors. And if the change is to be one in a right direction, it needs to have an inner source of inspiration. In my case there were at least two triggers of change which were decisive, but there was also a fair amount of thinking about the state of society and of the role of my world, the media, in affecting it. The first trigger was reading in The Financial Times about 11 years ago that the communications industry, including the mass media, had become the largest industry in the world. That led me to ask if we were the most responsible and I felt that the answer was a definite NO….

This the opening paragraph of Bill Porter’s introduction to a Report on the ICF’s first ten years.

Click here for the full text of the Report