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What does Media Freedom
mean to you?
INTRODUCTION
The UK National Commission for UNESCO, Twitter-UK and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office visited Bradford in Yorkshire in June 2019 to ask young people and professionals working in this UNESCO Creative City of Film what they thought Media Freedom was. As the United Nations agency with a specific mandate to promote “the free flow of ideas by word and image”, UNESCO works to foster free, independent and pluralistic media in print, broadcast and online. Media development in this mode enhances freedom of expression and contributes to peace, sustainability, poverty eradication and human rights.
“The State Parties to this Constitution, believing in full and equal opportunities for education for all, in the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth, and in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge, are agreed and determined to develop and to increase the means of communication between their peoples and to employ these means for the purposes of mutual understanding and a truer and more perfect knowledge of each other’s lives...”
UNESCO CONSTITUTION, 1945
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THE CAMPAIGN
Why Bradford?
Bradford is the world’s first UNESCO City of Film. This international recognition is due to its rich film heritage, its inspirational movie locations, and its many celebrations of the moving image through the city’s film festivals, filmed related events, and unique approach to learning about film and learning with film. It works to bring together those in the community and those within the industry to integrate film and its various forms into the long-term planning of the city; as an enabler and a driver for sustainable and inclusive growth, social cohesion, well-being, gender equality, environmental sustainability, and human-centred urbanisation.
PORTRAIT
David Wilson
Director, Bradford UNESCO City of Film
David Wilson is Director of Bradford UNESCO City of Film, representing the City on an international level as part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Using the UNESCO title, David and his team are working with many partners to bring about positive social and economic impact for the people of Bradford and UK, to ensure all are realising the benefits of its status as the world’s first UNESCO City of Film. David is an international ambassador for the city, regularly speaking and presenting at film, business and community events on Bradford’s film heritage and the city’s approach as a creative city, in addition to writing about film and presenting review shows on TV and radio.
Watch the interview below
PORTRAIT
Tim Smith
Editor of Look North at BBC Yorkshire
“Media Freedom matters hugely and so much more in this era of fake news and multiple sources of news. I think the public need and deserve sources of news that they can trust. On the one hand technology is great because we all have more choice now most of us have our own social media, our own favourite web pages, whatever they may be. On the surface that’s a good thing. But I think there’s a real danger in that we all live in our own media bubble, and actually more choice means us gravitating towards views we like. So I think at the moment I would say technology enables freedom but also inhibits it because it leads to people just living within their own bubble. And I think it’s more important than ever that people have a trusted source of news.”
Watch the interview below
PRESS
The Bradford Telegraph and Argus
In the Local Press
The Bradford Telegraph & Argus is a daily newspaper, with an online presence, reporting on events and news in Bradford, the Bradford district area, and all of West Yorkshire, with around 200,000 people reading its stories every day. It recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. The Bradford Telegraph & Argus has been involved with Bradford City of Film since it was first mooted as an idea more than ten years ago. It dedicated the front page of the newspaper to the anniversary, producing a special anniversary supplement, and running stories about the work that they’ve been doing with communities and with local film clubs throughout the year.
Watch the interview below
LOCAL RADIO
Bradford Community Broadcasting
Bradford Community Broadcasting (BCB), is the community radio station in Bradford, broadcasting through the centre of Bradford and along the Aire Valley, with a potential audience of about a quarter of a million, and an actual audience upwards of 30,000 who listen in every week. They did their first broadcast in 1992 as a temporary RSL restricted service licence for the Bradford Festival. Following the broadcast in 1993, they realised that there was a place for a community radio station in Bradford, and a place for ordinary people to have a voice and be listened to. The station has about two hundred and twenty active volunteers involved in programme making. Some people make a programme once a month, some once week, some people do two or three programmes a week.