Aidan White

Aidan White is the founder and president of the Ethical Journalism Network, the global organisation of the world’s major media professional groups which promotes ethics, good governance and self-regulation of journalism across all media platforms. White is a journalist who has worked on numerous publications including The Guardian and the Financial Times and for 24 years was General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, during which time he helped create the world’s largest organisation of journalists with members in 126 countries. He founded the EJN in 2012. Today the Network has more than 60 members and supports programmes to strengthen journalism in the Middle East, South Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. It has provides leadership in strengthening ethics, good governance and self-regulation in journalism across all platforms of media. White is also founder of global networks and coalitions of media organisations and press freedom groups. In particular, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, (1993) and news safety International News Safety Institute, (2003). For 30 years he has been an adviser to the intergovernmental organisations, including the United Nations and its major agencies, on ethical journalism and regulation of media. He has written extensively on media policy, journalism and human rights and has advised on international policy to combat hate-speech and intolerance in journalism.

He currently works closely with media development groups in South East Europe, Turkey, the Middle East and China and has recently produced reports on the press freedom situation in Turkey (Censorship in the Park, 2014) and edited three extensive reports for the EJN (The Trust Factor: Self-Regulation in Journalism, 2015, and Untold Stories: How Corruption in Journalism, Politics and Business Stalks the Newsroom, 2015; and Moving Stories: Media Coverage of Migration, 2017).