Jean-Marie Fardeau

Professor Larry Kilman has been invited to join the Grand Jury of the INMA Global Media Awards, which honour creative and innovative sales and marketing practices from news media companies around the world.

Kilman, who teaches NGO Management at AGS and also serves as Associate Director for Communications for the Institute for Media Strategies, has been asked to judge the Best Public Relations or Community Service Campaign category.

“It is a privilege to participate in the judging, and to see all of these outstanding public service campaigns from around the world, which demonstrate how much news organizations engage with, and give back to, the communities they serve,” said Kilman.

Before joining AGS in 2016, Kilman had been Secretary General of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, and previously had a long career as a journalist, notably with The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Radio Free Europe.

The INMA Global Media Awards, which drew a record 830 entries, will be presented at a ceremony on June 4, at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C., as part of the INMA World Congress of News Media.

The International News Media Association (INMA) is a leading global network of news media executives that provides its members with opportunities to exchange knowledge and best practices in the digital age.

Larry Kilman’s recent UNESCO publication, ‘An Attack on One Is an Attack on All: Successful Initiatives to Protect Journalists and Combat Impunity’ was featured in several events on 2 November, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

Mr Kilman, who teaches NGO Management at AGS, spoke about the report in an interview with France 24 and in a Facebook Live event at UNESCO.

The report is a collection of stories about how journalists are responding to attacks and the dangers facing journalists in the course of doing their jobs. It is not a comprehensive overview or a statistical compilation but rather a very readable collection of very human stories, meant to inspire and be shared.

Many of the initiatives were launched by friends and colleagues of slain journalists as a way to honor them. Their projects range from providing safety and medical training, to creating guides to best practices, to educating law enforcement and prosecutors about the importance of press freedom, to investigating attacks and murders of their colleagues. Several trends emerged: a need for greater coordination, greater services for the most vulnerable including free-lancers, local journalists, more initiatives focused on the specific safety concerns of female journalists, and a growing focus on digital security and trauma counseling.

"Journalists who risk their lives to report from hostile environments underpin democracy and also provide essential insight that informs relations between nations," Mr Kilman said. "The International Day to End Impunity helps to bring attention to this role."