World News Day 2024: How you can get involved now

World News Day, 28 September, seeks to remind everyone of the impact and value of fact-based journalism, and to demonstrate that #JournalismMatters.

It highlights the need to support journalism and news media in the face of rampant disinformation, political interference and a worldwide rise in authoritarianism.

This year, the World Editors Forumand The Canadian Journalism Foundation(CJF) are again presenting World News Day as a campaign for newsrooms worldwide to adopt and share. As a participant, you will have access to a portfolio of campaign materials, and a host of ideas on how to promote the work of your own newsrooms in the build-up to the day of awareness.

Why 'Choose Truth'?

"2024 A.D. is testing modern societies in ways we hoped would never be repeated. Autocratic regimes and aspiring dictators around the world have thrown a gauntlet to freedoms across borders, races and religions, notes Branko Brkic, Editor in Chief of South Africa's The Daily Maverick.

"Modern conflicts span the entire globe and are fought in an information expanse that is overwhelming in its reach and power. New technologies, and the platforms they enable, are battlefields on which our future is being fought for."

The Daily Maverick's Project Kontinuum, an incubated effort to reaffirm news media's positive role in the global community, conceptualised and crafted World News Day's Choose Truthcampaign which will be its blueprint for future collaborations.

A firm foundation to rebuild Trust in News

World News Day was conceived by Globe and Mail Editor in Chief David Walmsley and launched in 2018 by the Canadian Journalism Foundation, to change the relationship between the news industry and their audiences.

"Journalists have to do a better job of explaining themselves. World News Day is a chance to engage your audience, to listen to them tell you about how when they met a journalist their life was improved, and about how strong journalism brings out the facts that empower us all," says Walmsley.

The date is deliberate: 28 September is designated by UNESCO as theInternational Day for Universal Access to Information- which is of equal importance to both journalists and civil society as is fact-based news.

What you can do: Highlight the point and value of your journalism

For World News Day 2024, news media are encouraged to highlight the valuable role their journalism plays in the lives of their audiences and wider society.

Now's the ideal time to revisit some of your best journalism, the impact it's had, and remind your audiences why it matters.

"Journalists and news media face daily challenges to their credibility. We regularly meet editors wanting support to help defend and promote their journalism and to explain the processes that underpin their reporting," says Cherilyn Ireton, Executive Director of WAN-IFRA's World Editors Forum.

"The campaign video which will front this year's World News Day sends a sharp, powerful message: Choose Truth, support your favourite news brand, or risk losing it.

"Knowing how busy editors are, we have created for them a set of assets worth sharing widely."

See a draft of the video here.

More than 500 newsrooms supported the last iteration of the campaign.

News organisations that sign up now to support World News Day 2024 will receive a portfolio of assets - including video, digital and print ads, social media material and op-eds, in various languages - that they are encouraged to publish and share in the build-up to the day.

Choose Truth: How to make the campaign work for you

Campaign material will be shared two weeks before World News Day and can be published in the five days leading up to World News Day and on World News Day itself.

Some ideas on how to spread the word, amplify the impact

• Host/develop creative outreach programmes on media or digital literacy within your communities, schools and libraries…
• Develop a podcast series on press freedoms, best journalistic practices, investigative case studies…
• Profile your newsroom and journalists; let your audiences know who they're reading, watching or listening to. And if it is safe to do so, invite them into your newsroom.
• Use your newsletters to highlight your best work - and the people it has touched - during the past week/month/decade…
• Run a targeted social media campaign featuring your most memorable pieces - or snapshots of that, with great journalism from around the world.
• Host an event that brings your audience and journalists together

News organisations and media support agencies wanting to join or support the initiative can get involved by contacting Cherilyn Ireton, Executive Director of the World Editors Forum: [email protected].

Lucinda Jordaan

[email protected]