MediaWise

MediaWise:

• provides free, confidential advice and assistance for members of the public who feel that they have been affected by "inaccurate, intrusive, or sensational media coverage". In offering this service, "the Trust asserts the public's right to know when inaccurate information has been delivered by the mass media."
• supplies media training (for a fee) for the public and members of non-government organisations (NGOs), with a focus on "helping people to appreciate how the mass media operate - their motives, priorities and constraints"
• develops and delivers training on ethical issues for media professionals
• conducts research and publishes material about media law, policy, and practice
• contributes to public debate about the role and impact of the mass media through media channels and by organising events to bring together key players in controversial areas to discover ways of working together more effectively. Some of these events focus on creating opportunities for dialogue between media professionals and the public. These events have included: Reporting Suicide (London, 2002); Refugees, Asylum-seekers and the Media (London, 2001); Access to the Information Society (Bristol, 1998); Ethnic Minorities and the Media (London, 1997); Child Exploitation and the Media (London, 1997).

Working in collaboration with media professionals and NGOs in the UK and around the world, MediaWise carries out projects with the aim of improving the standards and standing of journalism. "We try to explore problematic areas of media coverage through 'action-research' projects" that focus on the intersection of the media with issues related to children, conflict and trauma, diversity, health, press freedom, public trust, refugees, and regulation. As part of this work, the Trust has developed guidelines on a variety of problematic aspects of media coverage, including: health communications (with the WHO European Health Communication Network), reporting about children (with the EC Daphne Initiative, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and UNICEF), and reporting suicide (with Befrienders International, the IFJ, and the National Union of Journalists - NUJ). Click here for a summary of the latter project.

Advocacy is a key strategy informing the design and implementation of these projects - and, in fact, in much of MediaWise's work; click here to read about MediaWise's promotion of freedom of information, support for the abolition of current libel laws ("which only serve to protect the rich and powerful, often from criticism and investigation in the public interest"), and opposition to "chequebook journalism" - among other issues.

The MediaWise website is designed to be a tool for educating the public and media personnel about their right to access and share information, and for speaking out when they feel that their communication rights have been violated. It includes links to MediaWise publications; tools for complaining about the media; searchable databases of codes of conduct, journalism schools, and media bodies; and details about the organisation's upcoming and past events, trainings, and projects.

Rights.

"MediaWise believes that press freedom is a responsibility exercised by journalists and editors on behalf of the public. The most important role of journalists in a democracy is to inform the public about events, issues and opinions which might influence the decisions people take about their lives and the society in which they live." Established in 1993, the PressWise Trust registered as a charity in 1999, and changed its name to The MediaWise Trust in 2005.