The European Federation of Journalists, the European branch of the IFJ has been working as part of a consortium to develop a video toolkit on gender stereotypes of women politicians and experts on television. This toolkit will be extraordinarily useful in journalists schools and trainings to educate journalists on the need to provide fair portrayal of politicians in the news, said Morini 232; re.

Welcoming the positive dialogue between the EFJ affiliate, the NUJ UK and Ireland, and the three affiliates of the IFJ in India which resulted in a joint declaration including the following principles that:

nbsp; The IFJ is calling on the authorities to respect freedom of expression and to ensure a constructive environment for the development of quality journalism in Yemen.

Hafez Al-Bukari is also the IFJ Coordinator on a project aiming to strengthen the capacities of the Syndicate and which aims to improve the working conditions of journalists in the country.

The IFJ has already denounced the arrest of the publishers of Errissala (The Letter) and Essafir (The Ambassador) after they reprinted the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Postens.

The IFJ represents more than 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries

nbsp; The IFJ is meeting this week with journalists in Iraq to discuss ways of improving the perilous situation that many journalists face in the country.

A series of hostile-training programs have taken place in recent months in Iraq and the IFJ is planning fresh activities in the south in the coming days.

Next month, the IFJ is organising a special event to discuss the BBC dispute and the crisis for broadcasting in Italy in Rome at the time of the international meeting of the IFJ Executive Committee. nbsp;

Political attacks intimidate journalists into censoring their shows and towing the political line of the government in power, said Aidan White, General Secretary of the IFJ in a letter to the President and Prime Minister of Croatia. There must be an immediate end to the intimidation of editors and journalists by politicians.

The IFJ renew its call on the government to put an end to the persistent abuse of workers in media companies in DRC.

The IFJ supported also the protests of its affiliate in Italy the Federazione della Stampa Italiana (FNSI) over the arrest and expulsion of Francesco Battistini, the correspondent of the Corriere della Sera.

The IFJ s African regional group, the Federation of African Journalists, has a continent-wide campaign to ban the criminalisation of press offenses in every African country.

The IFJ says that Omar worked for the influential radio network, Warsan Radio, as a newscaster and they fear he was the victim of a targeted attack.

The campaign was initiated by a meeting of the IFJ s Middle East affiliates in Beirut last month and has the backing of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate in Iraq, the Federation of Arab Journalists and the Association of Journalists in the United Arab Emirates, which hosted the launch conference in Dubai s Media City.

nbsp; Despite graphic evidence of a deteriorating situation for journalists in many areas, the IFJ also provides some evidence of a new determination within media and journalism to confront the crisis.

The IFJ Congress in Greece in 2004 called for the relaunching of IMRAX in the light of concerns over growing racism and intolerance in many countries, much of it reinforced by fears over terrorism and public anxiety over migration and asylum policy.

nbsp; On April 8 this year, the IFJ opened a safety centre in Baghdad to provide round the clock assistance to journalists working in one of the most dangerous places in the world.

The IFJ has called on the media regulatory body, the High Council of Communication (HCC), to press the government to guarantee press freedom and to either drop the charges or consider the case before Bambou s peers in the journalism community.

" We call on the government to respond clearly and publicly to these allegations, " said Gabriel Baglo, the Director of the IFJ Africa Office.

The IFJ, in conjunction with its affiliate the National Union of Journalists of the Ukraine, is calling on the Ukrainian authorities to take immediate action in order to prevent any further attacks.

The IFJ is appealing to the new Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic, a close political ally of the murdered Djindjic to restore press freedom in the country immediately.

Pat Cox, meeting with a delegation of journalists leaders from the IFJ and the National Union of Journalists in Great Britain and Ireland, said he welcomed the establishment of the International News Safety Institute in Brussels by a coalition of media organisations and press freedom groups.

The IFJ called on the Congolese authorities and the Military Court of Bukavu to investigate the threats against the observers and the defence lawyers.

The IFJ Executive Committee meeting in Sydney Australia at the beginning of December reiterated the Federation s support for efforts by the Association of Tunisian Journalists and the Syndicate of Journalists, both members of the IFJ, who are striving to defend journalists rights in difficult conditions.

The IFJ has also called for a relaunching of a campaign for free speech in the country. nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;

The IFJ and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) have called for a national debate on the need for a fresh start for media and democracy in the country.

The IFJ plans to organise worldwide protests on 8 April this year to highlight demands for action against impunity.

This is a major victory for editorial independence and social justice, said Arne König, Chairman of the European Federation of Journalists, the regional group of the IFJ. It should act as a warning to others that try to intervene in the work of journalists.

For background on the media and the elections, go to the IFJ Report: Democracy in the News: Journalists Act Over Ukraine Media Bias, http://www.ifj.org/pdfs/MissionReportFINAL2161104.pdf