Organisation | International Communication Forum

ICF Mission Statement

The International Communications Forum (ICF), founded in 1991, recognizes that the media is one of the world’s most powerful forces for good or ill. The media does not just report and reflect society but often shapes its direction. The ICF aims to:

strengthen public confidence in the media;
promote the bonds of trust within democratic societies;
inspire a commitment to service on the part of those who work in the media.

The ICF is committed to media ethics and the freedoms of expression and information. These need to be accompanied by a high sense of responsibility and respect for every audience. The ICF expects of media practitioners the same standards of integrity that they wish to see in all public servants. Through conferences and training programmes, ICF demonstrates its ethos on the basis of people-to-people and conscience-to-conscience dialogue.

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ABOUT

ORGANISATION

THE ICF'S PRESIDENT

Bernard Margueritte, the ICF's President

Bernard Margueritte

A Sorbonne graduate, Bernard Margueritte joined le Monde in 1965, and was their Correspondent for Eastern Europe in Warsaw from 1966-1970. Expelled from Poland in 1971, he moved to Vienna. From 1975-1977 he was a Research Fellow at Harvard University. He returned to Warsaw in 1977 as a correspondent for French newspapers and radio. He was again at Harvard from 1993-1994 as Visiting Fellow at the Russian Research Center and the Center for Press and Politics. He is a frequent contributor to Polish television and newspapers.

His articles have appeared in le Monde, le Figaro and Politique Etrangere. He is co-author of books on Austria and Planification in Eastern Europe and author of a research paper The New Central Europe: the difficult birth of a free press, published by Harvard University (1995).

Bernard Margueritte became deputy president of the International Communications Forum in 1996 and President in 2001.

ORGANISATION

ICF has no paid staff. The following is a brief outline of the organisational structure.

President:
Bernard Margueritte

Vice-Presidents:
Sanjoy Hazarika – Asia
Malgorzata Bonikowska – Eastern Europe
Rafael Marques - Africa
Dr Frances Pinter – Europe
Natalya Skvortsova – Russia and CIS countries
Robert Webb – North America

Executive Officers:
Robin Williamson – Executive Director
Jean-Jacques Odier – Executive Secretary France
Hugh Nowell – Director ICF Ltd

Chapters:
Malgorzata Bonikowska – Chair, Poland Chapter
Magnus Linklater - Chair, United Kingdom Chapter
Robert Webb – Chair, United States Chapter

Have you got a hot news tip?

If you see, hear, or read inaccurate reporting on science or global warming, drop a line to one of these media watchdogs:

Media Matters for America

Think Progress

Media Values

Media Values Book

Media Values brings together the writings of 27 experienced international journalists and artists to celebrate Bill Porter’s life and reflect on the values that he promoted through the ICF. Click here for more details.

The Newseum site is a treasure. Put your pointer on an included city anywhere in the world and its newspaper headlines pop up. Double click and the page gets larger. In some cases you can read the entire paper.