Action towards creating a UK Centre for Media Affairs
The International Communications Forum was one of a group of media organisations brought together by the Institute of Global Ethics UK Trust at a Consultation on establishing a Centre for Media Affairs in the UK. Over 30 people, including senior representatives of the media, media professionals, representatives of media consumers, academics and national charities, attended the Consultation, held at St George’s House in Windsor Castle on 9th/10th December 2002. The ICF was represented by President Bernard Margueritte (who was guest speaker at a dinner for participants on 9th December), Founder President William Porter and the ICF’s Executive Director Robin Williamson, who was a member of the Planning Group for the event.
Following the conference at the Financial Times that they organised in 1999 (Click here to read about the FT conference), the ICF together with a group of UK media professionals has been seeking support for the creation in the UK of an independent ‘Media Institute’ to conduct research, develop training and provide a body to which media professionals could bring ethical issues and seek guidance. In the last two years at least four or five quite separate groupings having been developing roughly similar ideas. All of these were approached by the Institute of Global Ethics to examine how best their energies, resources and concerns might be combined to produce the common desired result – an independent body which has the confidence of both public and media industries and which could be a ‘clearing house’ for dialogue, research and improvement in the sphere of media ethics. The Consultation at Windsor was the first step towards implementing these plans.
The consensus from the Consultation was that action was needed to move the concept forward. The Planning Group of which the ICF is a member is now taking action to build on the consensus achieved at the Consultation. News on progress will be available on this web site as the concept develops.
Click here to read about the Conference held at the Financial Times in 1999.