Aims

A network for the censored

 There are more than1,000 imprisoned writers, journalists, bloggers, photographers and documentary filmmakers, even musicians worldwide. Even more communicators are attacked, sacked from their jobs and marginalised each year. Large numbers of reporters are also killed. UNFree Media is an online network with regional and country websites where the censored can freely post their work, or if jailed or otherwise unable to use the internet, have others post blogs, videos, articles and photographs for them

       Mission: giving voice to the voiceless

  Enabling gagged and censored journalists become the narrators of their own news

       Values: empowering independent minds 

 Supporting freedom of expression and ethical journalism

       Method: offering confusion to our enemies
       Publishing original content by banned and jailed writers and broadcasters
       Providing online resources for excluded local journalists and writers
       Advocating on online behalf of abused, jailed and banished journalists
       Establishing sustainable networks of media professional and citizen journalists

       Organisation: flat, as the world is
        A decentralized network of journalists, writers citizen bloggers, filmmakers
        A  volunteer army of editors, translators and web designers

       Backstory: Only a frontstory  
      
        According to International PEN 2009, more than a thousand writers, journalists and bloggers were thrown in jail, killed or attacked across 89 UN member states in 2009. Freemuse tells us that many singers and songwriters were also censored and jailed. Many of these communicators were gagged or otherwise prevented from working in their own countries. The iron law of repression seems to dictate that the worse the dictatorship, the more writers there are behind bars or denied outlets for their work.

UNFree Media (unfreemedia.com) is a bridge to the outside World for these journalists and writers.  As major media organizations drastically reduce their foreign bureaus and slash travel budgets, these marginalized professional journalists are being invited to fill the gap. With censorship and repression on the rise, who better to provide authentic independent reporting from conflict zones?

As Bruce Shapiro, Director of the Dart Center on Journalism and Trauma said, "why shouldn't thoughtful news professionals in so many parts of the world be the narrators of their own news?"

Al too often these experienced journalists are the invisible 'fixers' for international networks and foreign correspondents who come parachuting in. By publishing and broadcasting these journalists, UNFree Media aims to fill some of the gap left by the departing world media. We aim to compliment rather than compete or even replace foreign news providers. Instead we will provide a stream of stories that should be of interest to reporters and editors at BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera, as well as new groups like Global Post or the major news papers and news agencies, AFP, Reuters and AP.

By working closely with Committee to Protect Journalists, PEN, Amnesty, Reporters without Borders and other IFEX members, the aim is to provide new outlets and new sources of income for these distressed journalists. To help us achieve that and bring these journalists to a wider audience we are seeking advisers and volunteer editors around the world. We also want to assemble teams of qualified independent journalists and editors to help run regional web platforms. The web portal is already there and every region or country can have its own individual site.

The megaphone provided by UNFree Media may well provide some protection for distressed journalists. Cuba's famous blogger, Yoani Sanchez manages so far to avoid the repression suffered by her colleagues thanks to her wildly successful blog, Generation Y which is now translated into 35 languages. We want to see many more Yoani Sanchezs around the world.

At least 98 UN member states routinely offend against Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We wish to shame them into living up to their legal obligations under international law by behaving better towards the independent media.

We want to help these censored journalists and communicators become better known. As the war in Afghanistan escalates and the struggle against Al Qaeda terrorists spreads across the border t Pakistan and to the Horn of Africa, its worth asking why we do not know more about the journalists and communicators of these countries. Some face severe censorship and even death threats. They include Daoud Sediqi, former presenter of Afghan Star now in exile in the US. The same goes for so many journalists and writers whether they are in  Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Georgia, Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe,

These censored communicators are often the very people foreign correspondents, editors, diplomats, humanitarian aid workers and policy makers depend upon to get reliable information from dangerous places.

Free from government interference or funding, UNFree Media will provide these embattled communicators with a robust and independent global platform. Initially published in English,  there will soon be regional websites in local languages, publishing and broadcasting streaming audio and video. Help us by spotting talented writers, bloggers and journalists facing censorship, or by becoming a regional web editor or translator.

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Contact the censored journalists' network UNFree Media at Editor@UNFreemedia.com