Lecture on global initiative against news neglect

Which topics are ignored by the global media? The German Initiative Nachrichtenaufklärung (INA) e.V. and the US-based Project Zensoren are researching this together. Professor Steve Macek from the US-based Project and Haarkötter, who is Executive Chairman of INA, presented this new joint project of a global list of topics neglected by the mainstream media at Re:publica in Berlin. Media experts from all continents are on the jury. The conference will take place via video conference and email.

Today, media and their reporting can no longer be viewed solely within national media systems. What is needed is a global view of media phenomena. After all, the problems that the media cause in society are also global problems today.

Both the American Project Censored and the German Initiative Nachrichtenaufklärung (INA) e.V. present annual rankings of ‘forgotten news’ and ‘censored news’ in their respective countries. And both lists always include topics that are of international importance. There are also clear overlaps between the two organisations when it comes to the reasons why some topics traditionally have a hard time editorially. Reason enough to analyse on a global scale which topics and discourses are neglected by the media.

Students from many colleges and universities across Germany are involved in compiling the German INA's ‘Top Ten Forgotten News’, including students from the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences' Sustainable Social Policy programme.