09 May 2015, 13:24
19693 |

U.S. Embassy Marks World Press Freedom Day

The U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, Richard M. Mills Jr., hosted a group of media professionals at his residence for World Press Freedom Day, marked annually on May 3 to celebrate the principle of press freedom and commemorate those who have fought and died trying to defend it. He also highlighted the recent launch of USAID’s Media for Informed Civic Engagement project, aimed at increasing citizen access to independent and reliable sources of information.

In his remarks, Ambassador Mills thanked the professionals for their dedication to the profession of journalism and for advancing the cause of press freedom in Armenia. “Journalists and other members of the media (such as editors and publishers) should be able to investigate, research, publish, and disseminate news, information, and opinions freely both online and off line,” he said, emphasizing that “we welcome opportunities to cooperate on press freedom issues, including working together to highlight cases of serious concern.”

 

The Ambassador noted that, in addition to training journalists and sponsoring exchanges in the United States, the U.S. Embassy recently launched its USAID Media for Informed Civic Engagement (MICE) project.   Select media outlets will be trained to use modern tools for fact-checking and news-verification, conducting quality investigations, developing effective multimedia products, and crafting innovative approaches in reporting, such as data visualization and data journalism.  MICE encourages professional and ethical reporting while educating citizens to become savvy media consumers and demand better quality media. 

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