IFAJ may be ‘the only global network of agricultural journalists’, but in reality our membership is diverse. Not only do we welcome journalists from across the ‘four cultures’ of agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture and silviculture, but we also rub shoulders with communicators.

For this final webinar of the year, on December 12, we’re taking a slightly different perspective on ‘freedom of the press’. Are journalists and communicators inherently biased in their roles? Enough to restrict journalists’ access to information, or freedom to follow stories? Or are they just ‘doing their job’, organising and shepherding and sorting information, for mutual benefit?

By exploring the topic through the eyes of those who fulfil those roles – and those who have experience of both – we’ll ask how we can synchronise these roles. How can we manage perceived, or real, conflicts of interest or opinion? And, most importantly, how can both groups work together constructively in pursuit of our common interest – supporting and enabling the flow of information within agriculture?

We believe that journalists and communicators should work together for high quality reporting and information, for the benefit of food security in our world.

Hear from Olivia Cooper (UK), Pam Caraway (USA), Rachel Martin (Ireland), Micke Godtfredsen (Finland) and Alpha Ousmare Souaré (Guinea) in what promises to be a lively and informative discussion that will delve into the very roots of our profession.

‘Principles and Principals: Balancing the Roles of the Journalist and the Communicator’

• 14:00 GMT, December 12
• 90 minutes