By Bernard Margueritte, president of the ICF
As you may recall, the ICF held in June, in cooperation with the Association of the Polish Journalists, a remarkable two-days conference about the deontology of the media. In attendance were outstanding journalists from 18 countries on four continents. Europe, including the UK of course, was widely represented, as were for example countries like the USA, Russia, South Africa, India, Lebanon, etc. The keynote speech was delivered by Graham Turner, a legend in the British media. He spoke about a fairly difficult topic “spiritual values and the media” …
In October, I had on behalf of the ICF a two-weeks long and fulfilling trip to Canada, the USA and Belgium. In Ottawa, at the invitation of the Oskar Halecki Institute I delivered in English the annual Halecki lecture at the Saint Paul University. It was well attended and widely covered by all kinds of media. I spoke also (in polish) to the members of the Polonia (the Poles abroad). The gathering was honored by the presence of the Polish ambassador to Canada. In Toronto, I had a similar, moving and joyful experience, with the members of the large Polish community there.
In the United States, I had a meeting at the Shorenstein Center for the Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (I am a fellow of the Center). We talk about ways to develop the cooperation between the ICF and the Center.
I traveled then to Brussels to take part in a conference organized on the 16th of October on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the election of pope John Paul II. I was invited by the John Paul II Institute to moderate one of the two panels, dealing with the legacy of JP II in the sphere of politics, social matters and media.
What to expect for 2019? We have been asked by our people in Lebanon, South Africa and India to hold a conference. We will see which one will come first. In any event, everyone will agree that we have never felt a more urgent need to try to find ways to rebuild the credibility of the media, at the service of the community and the people.