[FoME] WG: appeal--Russian EMF closure

[Spurk Christoph (spu)]

Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen, 
anbei ein Aufruf des EMF (früher Internews Russia) 
beste Grüsse
C. Spurk 
 
Christoph Spurk 
Media in International Cooperation
Institute for Applied Media Studies (IAM)
Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur (ZHW)
 
Kesselschmiede 35
P.O. Box 805
CH-8401 Winterthur
Switzerland
phone: 0041-52-267 70 64
spu at zhwin.ch
www.iam.zhwin.ch <http://www.iam.zhwin.ch/> 
 
office Berne: 
phone: 0041-31-352 00 08
spurk at bluewin.ch
 

________________________________

Von: gfmd1-bounces at gfmd.info im Auftrag von Eric S Johnson
Gesendet: Sa 09.06.2007 12:51
An: gfmd1 at gfmd.info
Betreff: [Gfmd1] appeal--Russian EMF closure



Dear GFMD Partners,

The Educated Media Foundation (EMF - formerly known as Internews Russia) has
been forced to suspend operations following the opening of a criminal
investigation into its president, Manana Aslamazyan, related to a customs
violation, and a subsequent eleven-hour raid on its Moscow headquarters on
April 18, 2007 by Russian police, who confiscated all of the EMF's servers
and financial documentation.

The EMF is an independent, Russian non-governmental organization, and has
been a leading source of professional training and support for Russian media
for many years. Over 2,000 Russian journalists from every part of the
country have signed an open letter to President Putin in support of Manana
Aslamazyan and the Educated Media Foundation. The Russian original with more
than 2,000 signatures is online, and an English translation is also
available.

The Global Forum for Media Development, which Internews Russia helped launch
and on whose Steering Committee Ms. Aslamazyan serves, has composed the
letter below in solidarity with fellow media professionals in Russia and in
support of Ms. Aslamazyan and the EMF.  This letter is also supported by the
members of the GFMD Steering Committee. 

The letter, below, is available online at www.gfmd.info with a link to the
petition site.  We hope that you will add your name to the list in support
of your Russian colleagues and will encourage journalists and media
professionals in your country to sign as well.

"As professionals working in, for and with the mass media in countries
around the world, we are deeply concerned that the Russian non-governmental
media support organization, the Educated Media Foundation (EMF), legal
successor to Internews Russia, has been forced to suspend its activities,
which focus on training journalists and other media professionals. By
signing here, we express our solidarity with our Russian colleagues who have
initiated a protest, and express our support for the Educated Media
Foundation/Internews Russia and its president Manana Aslamazyan. Like us,
our Russian colleagues are part of an international professional media
community that believes its audiences and readers deserve access to
complete, diverse and independent sources of information. We support them in
their efforts to stop the harassment of the EMF and all other impediments to
the work of Russian journalists."
     
Please note that in keeping with the policy of its Russian colleagues, GFMD
is seeking only signatures from people directly involved with media, though
with a fairly broad definition: journalists, media managers, owners,
technical people, media advertising professionals, journalism
educators/academics and media development implementers. We will probably not
list people from private foundations or government funding agencies, even
those specializing in media.
    
Links to additional information on the raid of EMF and the criminal case
against Manana Aslamazyan in English are available at:
        http://www.internews.org <http://www.internews.org/> 
Any additional questions about the case or the petition may be addressed to
        russiapetition at gfmd.info
 
Thank you for your support. 

David Hoffman
Chair, GFMD Steering Committee
        and
President, Internews Network


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