Consultation on the Tech and Journalism Crisis and Emergency Mechanism (T&JM)

The Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), in collaboration with the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy (ITLP), will hold a consultation on establishing the Tech and Journalism Emergency and Crisis Joint Industry Mechanism (T&JM) on February 21 at the UNESCO Internet for Trust conference in Paris.

Content moderation issues become particularly acute in crisis situations, where time and visibility are essential and influence operations pose serious threats to independent media. Ensuring that credible and professional journalism continues to exist and operate freely in digital environments has prompted GFMD to launch a multistakeholder process aimed at establishing the Tech and Journalism Crisis and Emergency Joint Industry Mechanism (T&JM). This initiative seeks to strengthen content and account moderation systems by establishing an emergency and crisis mechanism for public interest journalistic organizations, thereby providing safeguards for online freedom of expression, which is also an important component of disinformation responses. Initially focused on Ukraine and the neighbouring countries as a pilot for possible wider application, T&JM specifically targets small and medium-sized media, community, and investigative journalism organisations and their professional communities.

The key objective of the consultation is to engage local and international civil society groups, journalism and media organisations, companies, and experts to discuss and develop this concept collaboratively. To this end, the discussion will focus on three key components:

1. processes and criteria for identification of credible and trusted journalism actors online —leveraging existing trust and news integrity initiatives and building on established ethical and professional standards;
2. identification and verification mechanisms, escalation channels, and crisis and emergency protocols—leveraging lessons learned from recognised international processes and protocols and existing avenues of cooperation with platforms and other private sector stakeholders;
3. key elements of establishing a voluntary multistakeholder mechanism—ensuring local leadership and ownership, and incorporating data collection, risk assessment, and transparency.

Please note that participation will be in-person only. If you want your name and your organisation to be featured on the T&JM consultation post, please fill your details here.

The session will take place on 21 February 2023 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CET at UNESCO headquarters (Miolis building) – Room XVI in Paris. The UNESCO conference “Internet for Trust: Towards Guidelines for Regulating Digital Platforms for Information as a Public Good” takes place from 21 to 23 February.

To find out first about the latest conferences, festivals, forums, meetings, and other events related to media development, journalism support and press freedom and related subjects check out GFMD’s calendar.