An Ethiopian court has sentenced Swedish journalists Johan Persson (left) and Martin Schibbye to 11 years in prison. (AFP)•Written by The Editors• ••Monday•, 04 •July• 2011 03:14•
Swissinfo.ch has been given a reprieve by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation despite budget cuts and will continue to focus on informing international audiences about Switzerland. Last month, the SBC undertook a review to decide whether Swissinfo, the only official news operation remaining to inform both Swiss expatriates and the outside world about the country, should be axed or not. Concerned journalists and readers informed The Essential Edge earlier this year that eliminating Swissinfo would deny the Swiss public one of their most effective day-to-day information outlets for keeping the outside world updated on what is happening in Switzerland.
What is the role of media today? Does it have a responsibility to be involved, or should it sit on the sidelines observing? The world has changed radically in recent years. The internet is enabling ordinary citizens, whether farmers, teachers or victims of war and diaster, to have their say. Politicians are finding it increasingly difficult to ignore them. However, for civil society to express itself more knowledgeably on the issues that matter - climate change, peace and security, migration, human rights, health care... - it also requires access to credible information. This is where good and well-informed journalists can help promote much-needed transparency and accountability. For this to happen, however, they also need the support of other key players such as the private sector, international aid agencies and governments. Daniel Wermus of the Geneva-based 
Reporting is often a dirty word, particularly among those in the aid world who think they know best and feel no need to be accountable to the public-at-large. For well over a decade, however, specialized media groups have been working with local and international journalists to ensure that disaster-affected populations receive the sort of “lifeline” information they need to survive. What many policymakers do not realize is that better informed media can also play a key role in resolving or at least alleviating conflicts. Nonetheless, despite the media’s proven effectiveness as a crucial component of any humanitarian, peacebuilding or recovery effort, such initiatives are still failing to receive the support they need. This lack of commitment, often the result of ignorance, is not only risking lives but costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly even billions, every year. In this two-part series, part of which was previously published in the April 2009 issue of 
The just released report, Time for Action, by the
What role does imagery and journalism have in the reporting of war, climate change, humanitarian crisis and other global issues in a world where public information platforms are constantly changing? Does journalism need to re-invent itself in order to adapt? And how can young people, who rely increasingly on UTube, the Daily Show and other new media, learn to critically discern credible information and not be open to manipulation by political, commercial and other interests?
