Street paper news service bolstered by professional memberships
Global Forum for Media Development and Impress
INSP
- News
The International Network of Street Papers (INSP) has gained membership of two professional organisations: the UK’s press regulator Impress and the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD). INSP’s membership of both organisations will support the continued development and professionalisation of its own global newswire - the INSP News Service – which operates as a fully independent news service, sending in the region of 500 stories and images to street paper newsdesks globally.
Impress is a UK-based press regulator. With over 100 publishers under its belt, it is a popular method of ensuring that journalists can publish their work with safety, accuracy and integrity.
Lack of trust in news has become commonplace in recent years, as has news avoidance. Impress seeks to help its publishers to change that, seeking public input in order to better understand how to rebuild faith in the media. Members of Impress must adhere to the Impress Standards Code, which promotes high quality journalism while protecting freedom of expression.
INSP has also recently joined a community of likeminded journalists through its membership of the Global Forum for Media Development, an organisation seeking to assist its 203 member publications with connection, collaboration, and promotion throughout the industry.
The GFMD primarily offers support behind the scenes. Its staff research and curate lists of potential donors for the media organisations that they support, advocate for funding alongside its members, and run a comprehensive events programme, to name a few of its services.
The more funding and outreach that an organisation secures, the more influence it develops, which makes GFMD the perfect place to raise awareness for INSP’s mission.
Although not formally linked, Impress and GFMD have a common purpose: to better the journalism industry. One works to support journalists with accuracy and public engagement, while the other works to better relations between members, donors and publications. Membership in both is an excellent opportunity for INSP and all of its affilates, and will help us to spread the word about the purpose of street papers worlwide.
Mike Findlay-Agnew, Chief Executive of INSP, comments:
"The INSP News Service is an independent non-commercially owned newswire that distributes journalistic content to all member street papers across the world. In any one year, around 500 stories are sent out for street papers to freely use and publish.
"In an increasingly divisive media market, the need for trusted independent media could not be more paramount.
"Our membership to both Impress, the UK press regulator, and the Global Forum for Media Development creates more opportunities for INSP to collaborate with media partners across the world. INSP also sees this as a chance to continue to professionalism our news service."
