Media News - Monday, September 29, 2008

Head of Reporters Without Borders media watchdog resigns

The founder of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Robert Menard, on Friday announced his resignation as head of the group, saying he wanted to do something else. The 55-year-old said he had wanted step down as secretary general of the group 'once the campaign in China during the Olympic Games was finished.' Menard, who has criss-crossed the world fighting for an end to curbs on the press and to the imprisonment or harassment of journalists, said he will step down next Tuesday and will be succeeded by Jean-Francois Julliard, 35. Menard shot to international attention earlier this year with his calls for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and for his condemnation of China's crackdown on Tibetan protestors. He this year also saw his achievements recognised by the French state when he was given the country's highest distinction, the Legion of Honour. He set up RSF in 1985 on the model of the medical charity Médecins sans Frontières (MSF - Doctors Without Borders). RSF has a presence on all five continents. It is financed by sales of calendars and photographs as well as through donations. Every year it publishes a report on attacks on press freedom, and issues around a thousand press statements a year on abuses of media rights. (AFP via The Tocqueville Connection)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

• Home |
• Seminars  |
• Events |
• Media Landscape |
• Newsroom|
• Media News|
• Resources

Terms of service and Privacy policy.

Copyright © 1992- 2009 European Journalism Centre. All rights reserved.

Valid XHTML and CSS.

European Journalism Centre

Sonneville-lunet 10
6221KT Maastricht
The Netherlands

Tel. : +31 43 325 40 30
Fax : +32 2 400 42 20

E-mail: info[at]ejc.net