Diplomats from member countries of the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) met on 9 February in Dhaka, Bangladesh to discuss issues related to media freedom. U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Helen LaFave thanked the attending representatives for launching the MFC’s Diplomatic Network Initiative and for their support of press freedom. Civil society members and journalists attended the launch and described their work related to media freedom. The attendees discussed the current media landscape and developments related to media freedom in Bangladesh, including the censoring of online news portals and recent cases of harassment and intimidation of journalists. The MFC is committed to discussing these issues with the media, civil society, government, and other stakeholders to support media freedom in Bangladesh.
The Media Freedom Coalition is a cross-regional partnership of countries working together to advocate for media freedom, both online and offline. The MFC advocates for the safety of journalists and media workers, and holds to account those who harm journalists and severely restrict them from doing their job.
The Diplomatic Network Initiative is composed of members from around the world. The diplomatic missions of MFC member states are able to closely monitor the media freedom situation in the countries where they are based and take a range of collective actions to protect and advance media freedom.
The MFC was established in July 2019 at the Global Conference for Media Freedom and now comprises over 50 member states from six continents.
MFC Member Countries in Attendance: Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
More information about the Media Freedom Coalition, the Diplomatic Network Initiative, and member countries are available at https://mediafreedomcoalition.org/.