[stop-imf] IMF DENIES PRESS CREDENTIALS (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Hello Everybody,
It is now time to start bombarding the IMF press registration people with=
=20
request for an explanation of why many weekly nespapers, community radio=20
stations, and other small media outlets have been shut out of covering thei=
r=20
meetings.

IMF Press Registration
Records and Information Section
International Monetary Fund
Washington , DC 20431
FAX: (202) 623-4100
PHONE: (202) 623-6797

And if you have been denied press credentials, please contact
sheri@speakeasy.org.Thanks!
-Lisa



NEWS

For immediate release:     Contact:
April 7, 2000              Lisa Sousa, Media Alliance,
                            (415) 546-6334 x315

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND DENIES COMMUNITY JOURNALISTS ACCESS TO ITS
SPRING MEETINGS

No press credentials for weekly newspapers, community radio stations, and=
=20
other small media outlets that want to cover the IMF and World Bank spring=
=20
2000 meetings and the large demonstrations planned by social justice and
environmental activists

Washington, DC=8BJust a week before the spring meeting of the International=
=20
Monetary Fund, the IMF has issued letters denying access to its meetings to=
=20
many journalists who work for independent media outlets. In what appears to=
=20
be an attempt to prevent media coverage that is unfavorable to its policies=
,=20
the IMF has denied press passes to journalists who work at the Boulder
Weekly, KAOS radio of Olympia, Washington, CorporateWatch website, and othe=
r=20
independent media outlets.

"To prevent independent journalists from covering IMF meetings is tantamoun=
t=20
to an attack on freedom of the press. Journalists who work for larger,=20
mainstream media outlets should not be given preferential treatment over th=
e=20
independent, community media journalists who tend to delve into issues that=
=20
the IMF might prefer to keep under wraps=8Blike environmental destruction a=
nd=20
economic inequality," said Andrea Buffa, executive director of Media=20
Alliance, a San Francisco-based media advocacy organization.

Media Alliance was joined by Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting and Project=
=20
Censored in calling on the IMF to immediately clarify its policy on press=
=20
credentialing and begin credentialing journalists from independent media=20
outlets. Although the IMF has yet to explain its policy, a staff person at=
=20
the IMF press office told Craig Hymson of the Independent Media Center that=
=20
the organization "does not provide press accreditation to public access TV,=
=20
community radio, student or academic publications."

April 16 is the first day of the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank.=
=20
Thousands of people will come together in Washington, DC that day to=20
participate in demonstrations against those institutions as a follow up to=
=20
the demonstrations against the World Trade Organization last November in=20
Seattle.

Independent journalists from all over the world, many of them working with=
=20
the Independent Media Center, will be on hand next week to ensure that=20
activist and community-based perspectives are represented in the news.  It=
=20
is crucial that these journalists have full access to the IMF/World Bank. T=
o=20
learn more about the Independent Media Center and to download their=20
coverage, visit www.indymedia.org.