IAMCR established a Clearinghouse for Public Statements in July 2015 to help with making public statements by taking proactive positions on issues or by responding to issues when they arise.
Any current member in good standing of IAMCR may request the Clearinghouse to consider whether a public statement should be made by endorsing a statement of others or by distributing a statement of its own. Requests should be sent to clearinghouse@iamcr.org. Please read the text What the Clearinghouse for Public Statements Does and the Clearinghouse's Working Procedures before making a request. Questions and clarifications about what the Clearinghouse does should be sent to clearinghouse@iamcr.org.
The Clearinghouse is chaired by Robin Mansell, London School of Economics and Political Science. See all members.
The Clearinghouse processes statements and/or manages the process of signing statements generated by others when they are principally concerned with issues relating to media/communications and where IAMCR members have substantive scientific expertise that provides a basis for seeking to influence discursive or material practice.
IAMCR has been active in debates on the need to decolonise and de-westernise theory and research in the field. IAMCR supports affirmative action and policies that ensure greater diversity and social inclusion amongst media scholars and is concerned about a case that represents a dangerous backlash against these policies in Brazil.
On 21 July, the Postgraduate Programme in Communication of Unisinos University in Brazil was unexpectedly and arbitrarily shut down by the university’s management. IAMCR stands in solidarity with colleagues in the programme, one of Brazil's most prestigious in the field.
IAMCR calls upon the management of Goldsmiths University of London, to reverse its suspension of two leading academics in the field of Media and Communications - Professor Des Freedman and Dr Gholam Khiabany, Head of Department and Deputy Head, respectively, of the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies.
IAMCR calls upon the Brazilian authorities to address the killings of journalist, Dom Phillips, and Brazilian Indigenous advocate, Bruno Pereira with urgency and diligence in recognition of the sanctity of life and in defence of the freedom of expression, the right to communicate, and the protection of cultures, territories and human beings in the Amazon.
IAMCR stands in solidarity with protests against the suspension of the trading license of the Lwin Oo Book Store in Myanmar for selling copies of a book, “Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide: Identity, History and Hate Speech”, that details the key role played by social media in spreading hate speech against the Rohingya in Myanmar.
IAMCR stands in solidarity with workers at Brazil’s national public service broadcaster, the Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), in its fight to safeguard the Brazilian people’s right to public broadcasting.
Based in Quito, Ecuador, CIESPAL, the International Center for Higher Communication Studies for Latin America, has played an important role in journalism education in Ecuador and Latin America and a leading role in communication debates in the region and globally.
IAMCR calls on the Nigerian government to drop proposed restrictive legislation regulating the media and to lift its suspension of Twitter.
IAMCR endorses the recently-launched Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Manifesto, a collective work of communication scholars and practitioners that calls for the safeguarding of the existence, funding, and independence of Public Service Media and the creation of a Public Service Internet.
IAMCR emphatically rejects threats that unknown persons have made publicly in Barranquilla, Colombia to various individuals and their families committed to building peace and coexistence, and working with people and communities to reach social agreements and promote the development of their city and region.
IAMCR strongly opposes the Australian Federal Government’s decision to increase university fees for communications and media studies degrees, and for humanities, arts, and social science students more generally, while cutting the cost of degrees in science, technology engineering and math-related subjects.
IAMCR's Clearinghouse on Public Statements and its Executive Board issued two statements related to the anti-racism protests currently taking place in the United States and elsewhere.
IAMCR has been informed that a radio station supported by AMARC Europe, the umbrella organisation for community radio in Europe and a leading NGO in the field of community expression, has been subjected to a violent attack from far-right militants.
IAMCR stands in solidarity with journalists and news outlets working to provide coverage of the current crisis in Chile in a way that allows the reasons for the protests to be understood, gives voice to peaceful protesters, and documents abuses by the military and police anti-riot squads.
IAMCR urges its members and the media and communication research and education community to lobby the UK government against proposals that threaten creative and critical scholarship in research in media and communication and to join calls for action in other countries when similar policy moves threaten education in our field.
IAMCR expresses concern about Julian Assange's possible extradition to the United States, a precedent that threatens the welfare of whistle-blowers and discourages the sustained watchdog role of the media.
IAMCR is deeply concerned by moves to compromise the independence of Australia's research grant process and embed political interference.
IAMCR calls on Hungarian authorities to withdraw a decree denying accreditation for Gender Studies programmes. IAMCR says the measure will "suppress valuable training" and "have a chilling effect on freedom of inquiry and freedom of expression".
IAMCR stands in solidarity with university professors, students and media professionals in Venezuela whose freedom of inquiry and expression is being systematically undermined by the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
IAMCR offers its support to faculty members of the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information protesting against the staff cut strategy of the hedge-fund investment company that owns the one remaining daily newspaper in Denver, Colorado, The Denver Post.
UNESCO and the GNI held a colloquium in Paris on 8 February 2018: "Improving the communications and information ecosystem to protect the integrity of elections”. Prior to that meeting, IAMCR’s Clearinghouse for Public Statements prepared a statement on contemporary challenges for media and communication research posed by digital disinformation.
The Turkish organisation Academics for Peace has issued a call for international solidarity to support its members who are being charged with terror-related offenses for signing a 2016 petition calling for an end to curfews and military operations in the Kurdish region of Turkey.
An update has been made to the IAMCR statement on Catalonia published on 5 October. The update clarifes the scope of IAMCR statements and the role of the Clearinghouse on Public Statements.
As the new academic year begins for many, we are reminded of the 5,717 academics from 117 universities in Turkey who have been fired since July 2016. Only 140 of them have been reinstated in their jobs.
2 April, 2017 - IAMCR sent a letter today to Hungary’s Minister of Human Capacities, Mr. Zoltán Balog, to protest proposed legislative changes that could change the status of Central European University (CEU), forcing it to close and endangering the academic freedom that enables all universities, including those in Hungary, to flourish.
28 Feb, 2017 - IAMCR today published a statement condemning continuing attacks on academic, journalistic and artistic freedoms in Turkey. The statement follows the firing of 330 academics in February 2017, bringing the total number of academics fired over the past 8 months to 7,316. The complete text of the statement follows.
IAMCR stands in solidarity with all those calling for United States President Trump’s Executive Order on immigration to be rescinded. Banning entry to the United States by citizens of named countries, currently Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, for 90 days, suspending the US Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days, and proposals aimed at preparing the ground for ‘extreme vetting’, are unfair discriminatory measures. They entail racial and religious intolerance, result in damage to the lives of individuals and families, and represent a threat to the foundations of democracy. As an academic association with world-wide membership, IAMCR condemns this Order
24 January, 2016 - IAMCR's Committee for the Improvement of Academic Life today released a statement of support for Turkish academics who have been arrested and harrassed after signing a petition critical of government and military activities in Turkey's Kurdish region.
IAMCR submitted recommendations on the draft outcome document to be finalized during the United Nations meeting on the 10th anniversary of the World Summit on the Information Society high level meeting in New York 15-16 December 2015.
On 7 September 2015 IAMCR issued a public statement on the future of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The statement was agreed by the IAMCR Clearinghouse on Public Statements and issued by IAMCR’s President.
1. Statements will be guided by, and restricted to, the IAMCR remit. They will focus on media/communication issues and reflect IAMCR's critical position.
