IFJ Voice 2019: Edito

"The future of journalism in the digital era” will be the theme of the 30th IFJ World Congress, meeting in Tunis (Tunisia) from June 11th-14th 2019.

This topic is particularly relevant as it echoes that of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which celebrates its centenary this year by considering “The future of work”.

But is the future bright in digital media? According to the latest news, doubts are beginning to surface. Financial difficulties including falling advertising revenue and staff cuts are no longer restricted to the “old” print media. Since the beginning of the year, the global group BuzzFeed has already fired over 200 journalists; HuffPost sacked 10% of its editorial board (about 20 media professionals) while counter-culture magazine Vice dismissed 250 staff!

Increasingly today, unions are fighting to establish themselves in online editorial boards and workplaces - they have a crucial role to play in order to safeguard the future of journalism.

Anthony Bellanger

IFJ General secretary.

For more information, please contact IFJ on +32 2 235 22 16

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 146 countries

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