IFAJ may be ‘the only global network of agricultural journalists’, but in reality our membership is diverse. Not only do we welcome journalists from across the ‘four cultures’ of agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture and silviculture, but we also rub shoulders with communicators.
For this webinar, we’re taking a slightly different perspective on ‘freedom of the press’.
Are journalists and communicators inherently biased in their roles? Enough to restrict journalists’ access to information, or freedom to follow stories? Or are they just ‘doing their job’, organising and shepherding and sorting information, for mutual benefit?
Indeed, we have a lot of great members, as well among communicators as journalists. Several members are also working both as communicators and journalists. They are doing a great job and some of them have been awarded more than once.
By exploring the topic through the eyes of those who fulfil those roles – and those who have experience of both – we’ll ask how we can synchronise the roles. How can we manage perceived, or real, conflicts of interest or opinion? And, most importantly, how can both groups work together constructively in pursuit of our common interest – supporting and enabling the flow of information within agriculture?
We believe that journalists and communicators could work together for high quality reporting and information, which would benefit suffiency and security of food in our world.
Hear from Olivia Cooper (UK), Pam Caraway (USA), Rachel Martin (Ireland) and Alpha Ousmane Souaré (Guinea) in what promises to be a lively and informative discussion that will delve into the very roots of our profession.
Alpha will also tell us a bit about the situation for press freedom in his country.
Moderator is Micke Godtfredsen (Finland).
Join us on December 12, 2024, 2 pm GMT!
REGISTER HERE
Duration of the webinar: 90 minutes
The Speakers
Olivia Cooper is the founder of Agri-hub. Olivia is an award-winning journalist and PR consultant, specialising in rural and agricultural business promotion. Editor of British Dairying magazine, she is also a regular contributor to Farmers Weekly, Farmers Guardian, and other specialist publications. She is former chair of the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists and is an accredited CIPR practitioner.
Olivia is representing the British Guild in the IFAJ executive committee, and she is the upcoming chair of the IFAJ Freedom of the Press Committee.
Pam Caraway is executive editor of Farm Futures, for U.S.-based Farm Progress, the agricultural arm of the Informa family of companies. Her 40-year career in agri culture communications includes leadership roles in editorial, marketing and public relations. No stranger to the Farm Progress editorial team, she previously served as editor of former publications Florida Farmer and Southern Farmer, and as a senior staff writer at Delta Farm Press. She started her writing career at Northwest Florida Daily News in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA. For a dozen years, she worked in public relations and marketing roles on behalf of and for top-tier ag manufacturers, including Bayer, Syngenta and Dow (now Corteva).
Pam says working as an ag communications professional is the closest she can get to farming – and still earn a paycheck. She’s been rewarded for that passion and drive with multiple writing and marketing awards, most notably: master writer from the Agricultural Communicators Network, a Plant Pathology Journalism Award from the American Phytopathological Society, and the Reuben Brigham Award from the Association for Communication Excellence.
Rachel Martin is an award-winning journalist and editor of the Irish Examiner’s farming supplement.
From a beef and dairy farming background in Northern Ireland, she is a former chairman of the region’s Guild of Agricultural Journalists and a 2017 IFAJ Young Leader.
She works for a publication which recognises the value of the free press and strives to maintain and defend an independent editorial voice.
Alpha Ousmane Souaré has been actively engaged in Guinean public and private media since 2005, working with various outlets including RTG, Horizon FM, ATV, La Voix du Paysan, City FM, FIM FM, and the online platform www.agriguinee.info. In 2014, he developed a keen interest in agricultural journalism, which led to the production of numerous reports on agriculture. This passion also inspired the founding of the Association Média et Agriculture pour le Développement Rural (AMEDAR) alongside colleagues. Through AMEDAR, Alpha and his colleagues organized the Agricultural and Rural Journalism Prize in Guinea in both 2015 and 2016, during which they provided training to over 70 Guinean journalists. These training sessions highlighted the vital role of agriculture in the development of any country and offered insights on effectively covering agricultural topics. Since 2016, Alpha has been a member of IFAJ, engaging in regular exchanges with experienced journalists to explore strategies for enhancing the role of journalism in the agricultural sector’s development. Through these various endeavours, he has come to understand the profound impact that informed journalism can have on the growth and sustainability of agriculture in different regions.
Michael “Micke” Godtfredsen has been a chair of the IFAJ Freedom Of The Press Committee since the committee was founded in 2014 and during this Autumn he is handling over the chair ship to Olivia Cooper.
Micke is a former chair of the Finnish guild in the IFAJ, Maataloustoimittajat (which means The Agricultural Journalists) and has represented the guild in the IFAJ executive committee for several replays.
He is also a board member of the Finnish section of Reporters without Borders.
Micke has been working as a journalist for about 40 years, first at daily newspapers and during the latest 20 years at the agriculture magazine Landsbygdens Folk (which means Rural people). During the last 14 years he ran the magazine as editor in chief. It is the member magazine for the association of Swedish speaking farmers in Finland. Twice he has won the Finnish guild’s Story of The Year contest.
He is now retired but does still do stories for agricultural media as a freelance.
Mark your calendars! Register now.
Watch out for the individual eAlerts and registration emails for each of the upcoming webinars: they’ll be landing in the inboxes of IFAJ email subscribers soon, and appearing on the usual social channels.
Understanding Soil Health: Thursday, December 5
• First session: 02:00 GMT, December 5: Register here
• Second session: 15:30 GMT, December 5: Register here
• 60 minutes
The webinar programme continues in 2025. Watch out for new topics being announced – and tell us what you’d like to see. What’s trending for you? What other partners would you like to see in our programme? What subjects can we cover from a journalist’s or communicator’s point of view? Email IFAJ’s secretary general, Adrian Bell, with ideas, requests and suggestions: adrian.bell@agromavens.com