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ST. GALLEN MODEL UNITED NATIONS

UNIVERSITY OF ST. GALLEN, SWITZERLAND 12 – 15 NOVEMBER 2020

INTERNATIONAL PRESS CORPS ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

INTERNATIONAL PRESS CORPS (IPC) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ TOPIC: REPORTING, ON ALL FRONTS, AT ALL TIMES ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

WRITTEN BY DILLETTA MUCCILI, MANUELA BARROSO AND IRENA ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ SHALEVA ​ 2

WELCOMING LETTER ​ ​ ​ To our beloved SGMUN delegates, Welcome to SGMUN 2020! We would like to congratulate you on being chosen to participate in this Conference and we are looking forward to meeting you in the coming weeks. The Secretariat has planned a fantastic Conference in St. Gallen, which will truly stand out as an MUN conference to remember. Now it is our pleasure to officially welcome you to the International Press Corps. Journalism is not something every conference in the MUN world places emphasis on, but when it is done right it has a profound ability to bring delegates together and influence the atmosphere of the conference. We, as your chairs, are glad to present you this study guide with the hope it will serve as a vital tool for you as delegates, and please use it to familiarize yourself with the committee’s role in the conference. The Press Corps committee is special for many reasons. Firstly, because of the diversity in the delegate experience you will receive. Secondly, because you are getting to, potentially, interact with all the committees taking place at the conference. And thirdly, because you will be able to publish an influential piece of work every day. With your articles and press releases, you will have the ability to influence not only your fellow journalists, but entire committees and the conference as a whole. As such, for this committee to have the power and relevance it deserves we need bold, passionate, creative, intelligent, savvy and persistent delegates. We are familiar with this kind of committee, so we are sure that you will make your best efforts in bringing spicy while having the time of your life at this Conference! We are super excited to meet you! Diletta, Irena and Manuela

[Chair biographies and pictures]

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TABLE OF CONTENT ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

Welcoming Letter 2 About the committee 4 Importance of Journalism and Historical Background 4 Role as Journalist - Form vs Format 4 Functioning of the Committee 6 Chairs 6 Delegates 6 Committee schedule 6 Rotational matrix 7 Press conferences 7 Content and guidelines 8 News reports 8 Opinion pieces 8 Featured articles 8 Interviews 8 Press releases and breaking news 8 Website 9 Social media 9 The news agencies 10 Buzzfeed (U.S.) 10 Fox News (U.S.) 11 People’s Daily (China) 11 (International) 11 Sputnik News (Russia) 11 The Guardian (U.K.) 12 Berliner Tageblatt (Germany, Historical) 12 Le Petit Journal (, Historical) 12 References 14

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1. ABOUT THE COMMITTEE ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Importance of Journalism and Historical Background To investigate, tell stories, and to wisely report: those are all crucial aspects of journalism that have been shaping our communities since our principle and foundation. Since the 15th century, journalism has been responsible for the examination of events worldwide, broadcasting not only “the news” but also different opinions and data collected from the most different countries, cultures, and regions. Known as “the fourth pillar of democracy", its known history goes back to the Roman Empire, with Julius Cesar, and the creation of the Roman Acta - the first known newspaper produced in Western Civilizations. ​ Later, the press extended its importance through all of our most remarkable events and human achievements, finding itself, now, renewed and transformed by a new globalized age, led by internet, social media, and “fake news”1. The importance of journalism, and its immense power, can be easily demonstrated by a simple analysis on how newspapers and online platforms have been shaping mentalities throughout centuries. Those vehicles, by presenting different and well-written pieces, can make entire populations question themselves based exclusively on shocking headlines, and strong opinion pieces. To live in a world without journalism means to deny one of your main characteristics as humans: Communication. To have freedom of press and expression means to promote universal human rights, together with one of the biggest foundations of global democracies. It is a way to give power to the people, and, most importantly, to give a voice to those who want to express their ideas and thoughts. The ability to question and criticize such powerful thoughts and figures, however, has its own dangers. The prosecution and murder of journalists unfortunately is a huge problem faced internationally, making us question the human ability to deal with criticism and questioning. According to the NGO Reporters Without Borders, in 2019, "a total of 49 journalists were killed, 389 were currently in prison and 57 were being held hostage"2. Those numbers bring us to question again the true meaning of journalism, together with its power to destabilize societies, traditions and values.

Role as Journalist - Form vs Format A journalist, in order to obtain quality, must keep in mind the two main pillars of reporting. The first one, the form, relates to how the writer is going to approach the topic in question, using data and its knowledge to either support or criticize the situation in question. The form must be in accordance with the newspaper belief system and it must present the topic in the clearest way possible, avoiding ambiguity and misinformation. The second pillar, the format, must also be in accordance with the newspaper’s editorial standards, but differently from the form, it is not about the content but instead, about the visual presentation of the text

1 http://historyofjournalism.onmason.com/2016/02/23/roman-contributions-to-journalism-the-acta/ ​ 2 https://rsf.org/en/news/rsf-yearly-round-historically-low-number-journalists-killed-2019 ​

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(if it is visually clean, printable, etc). In the IPC, the format of the texts may vary in different newspapers but all of them should follow the basis given in this Study Guide.

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2. FUNCTIONING OF THE COMMITTEE ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Chairs The committee chairs, named editors, lead and coordinate the press team. Their role involves moderating the debates made within the committee, deciding which delegates cover which committee during the sessions and reviewing received press articles before publishing them.

Delegates

The delegates are expected to represent a single throughout the conference. As such, they must represent the policies, ideologies and written/spoken style of their newspaper when debating during committee sessions, interacting with delegates within and outside of the press corps committee (i.e. during interviews) and when writing articles. They are expected to produce articles based on or commenting on the events taking place in their allocated committee and send their pieces to the press corps chairs. In order to familiarise with your role in advance, you are asked to submit a Position Paper before the conference starts. Your Position Paper should include: 1. The history of the newspaper (when was it founded, what were the circumstances, etc.); 2. The ideology of the newspaper (what is its main focus, what kind of political ideology is involved, does it claim allegiance to a particular cause, etc.); 3. Your general expectations for the conference (how do you plan to act during the conference, what is your strategy going to be to get assigned to a specific committee, any specific ideas in mind, etc.). Remember to start your Position Paper with the following: Committee: News Agency: Name of Delegate: Your Position Paper should be written in Times New Roman (12 pt.). Justify the text of your paragraphs so that both sides have straight edges. Please do not exceed one page. Only delegates who will have submitted their position paper on time will be considered eligible for awards.

Committee schedule The first session of the conference will involve a Press workshop, where delegates can get to know each other and ask questions to the chairs. Later on, they will introduce their news agencies

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for the first time via the general speaker’s list so that every member of the Press Corps knows what to expect from their peers Every day, there will be two mini-sessions during which delegates are absolutely expected to be in ​ the Press committee room. These are: 1. The morning session: at the beginning of each day delegates need to open the debate, set the agenda and advocate for their desired committee. 2. The closing of the day session: 15 minutes before committees close for the day, there will be a debrief session to see how the press delegates are doing. This will be your main chance to step out of character and share.

Rotational matrix In the press corps, the daily agenda concerns who will be allocated where and why. As each news agency has different political affiliations and beliefs, there will be much to debate and negotiate in order to get the best outcome. Every day, the press delegates should be informed on the topics that are being discussed in the different committees, allowing them to choose their allocation for the rest of the day. Delegates should decide each day to which committee they want to be allocated to. ​ ​ After knowing the agenda of the other committees, delegates will make an opening speech outlining where they would like to be allocated, what they plan to report on and why they are the best option for that specific committee. This will be regulated by normal ROPs to debate on allocations and negotiate alliances between press delegates themselves. When the chairs of the Press committee believe the debate was sufficient, allocations for the day will be decided. Please bear in mind that the decision of the chairs is final and cannot be contested.

Press conferences

Press delegates have the ability to host a Press conference. They will decide which committee they want to interview and the chairs of the Press corps will rule on how many journalists can be present in the room in accordance with the chairs of the committee in question. The chairs of the committee will have to rapidly brief the press delegates on what is going on in their debate but will also have the opportunity to suggest some questions to be asked to shake up the debate. Next, the chairs of the Press corps will declare the Press conference open and will let the journalists intervene orderly, giving them the possibility to ask questions on the debate to whichever delegate they want to. The Press conference shall last 30 minutes maximum. Afterward, each journalist who has participated in it shall write a brief article of about 100 words on what he/she has discovered during the Press conference.

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3. CONTENT AND GUIDELINES ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Each day, the delegate’s articles will be published by the chairs and published by the relevant delegate and chairs. These articles must be written under the criteria and ideology of the media outlet represented and ​ ​ provide relevant information to the committee. Press delegates are expected to send in work throughout the day and adhere to the expected minimum of ​ one full article (at least half-page long) and two breaking news and/or press releases each day. ​ ​ ​

News reports A straightforward, accurate and objective relay of events or information. Its purpose is to notify the reader about the current events happening around the world. The structure of the News reports 3is called Inverted ​ ​ Pyramid. Starts with a catchy headline, followed by the lead paragraph that answers the 5Ws rule (Who/What/When/Where/Why), the body gives more accurate information about the event and the tail closes the overall report with some final statements.

Opinion pieces A brief article4 that mainly reflects the author’s and agency’s opinion about a subject supported by facts, figures and statistics that contribute to their opinion. Introduce the issue with a narrative body to make it catchy and interesting for the reader. The introduction is essential, explain in detail the concepts in order to avoid confusion.

Featured articles An in-depth exploration of an issue. A prominent article that does not give the opinion of the editor like the opinion pieces and describes in detail compared to the news report. They can be opinionated, according to the policy of your news agency, and have a less formal tone. It is essential to be well prepared about the topic or subject of the article because the key role is in the detail of the information that article offers. Features are more in-depth than traditional news stories and go beyond providing the most important facts. The purpose of these stories is to provide a detailed description of a place, person, idea, or organization. You can use them to offer a special insight on some of these actors participating in the conference.

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Interviews Structured conversation, the result of a meeting between the journalist and the subject of the interviews. By following a sequence of questions to the interviewed, the journalist will collect information about the themes that have been decided previous to the interview. Face to face interviews help create a connection and avoid misunderstanding in the communication process, the unmoderated caucuses are the perfect and only chance to interview the delegates.

Press releases Press releases are brief yet compelling news statements that provide essential information about a specific event. This includes the 5 Ws (who? what? where? when? how? and why?), quotes, and sources. The release may add extra crisis-like information by reporting human rights violations, discoveries about ​ ​ military movements, new alliances between countries, or other information relevant to a committee. However, this needs to be well researched and approved by the chair of the committee in question ​ before being published to avoid malfunctioning of the committee itself. If the chair of the committee believes the information can be published to spice things up in the debate, the press delegate will be able to release it as breaking news. ​ ​

Breaking news A breaking news is a very brief statement that can really change the events in the conference. For this reason, only breaking news that has been approved by the chairs of the committee in question will be published. Usually, breaking news just includes a picture and a spicy headline. Have a look at http://www.breakyourownnews.com/ to see how the breaking news should be published. ​

Website All your work will be published on the conference’s website. A few days prior to the beginning of the conference, you will receive a password to log onto the IPC section of the website to upload and check your content.

Social media The use of social media to publish and promote your articles is authorised as long as the Chairs are informed.

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Social media’s usage can include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Please remember to stay in line with your news agency’s outlet, and to always specify that the article does not reflect a real event and has been published only for the purpose of the Conference.

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4. THE NEWS AGENCIES ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ The Press Corps committee is a special committee that deals with news media agencies from all around the globe. With many political and ideological figures from all over the spectrum, it is important to define and hear each other's position on the matter. For each newspaper there is a power to speak and write his own words and perhaps inform and influence the future of the conference.

Since there is no topic for the committee, we will provide you the news agencies and a small description on each one. We ask you to please go through and read the description of each newspaper, as this will assist you in your research to understand the position of your newspaper and the others.

Buzzfeed (U.S.) Founded in 2006, based in New York and created by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson II, BuzzFeed 5is ​ an American Internet media, news and entertainment company concentrated on digital media. Its content is famous for the online quizzes, pop culture articles, the company has developed into a global media and technology company, providing coverage on a large spectrum of topics counting politics, animals and business. Although the prizes and the reputation, in the United States it is considered, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center, a ‘’unreliable source’’ by a large part of respondents, disregarding the political affiliation. After the results of the study BuzzFeed decided to dedicate Buzzfeed News its own section on the website. The work is published daily thanks to the production of staff reporters, contributors, syndicate cartoon artists. The website content is made out of lists, videos and quizzes. Initially being oriented towards viral content, it shifted towards breaking news and reported articles, according to The New York Times. BuzzFeed started as a side project of Peretti thanks to a partnership with John Johnson, while he was working for the Huffington Post. Initially there were no writers or editors, it was supposed to be a ‘’cull’’ for viral content from all over the web. It was an instant messaging client, BuzzBot, which would send clients to the popular content. Later on the website began collecting the most notorious links that BuzzBot had found. Peretti decided to hire someone to cure the website and its content. In 2011, Ben Smith, previous political blogger, signed up to assemble the news that was being published. In the following years BuzzFeed disjointed BuzzFeed News and the newly BuzzFeed Entertainment Group. In 2016 there were correspondents in 12 countries around the world, with 1,700 employees. In 2019 BuzzFeed signed an arrangement with Universal Television that would produce content based on its stories.

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Fox News (U.S.) Fox News6 is a multinational conservative cable news television channel. Owned by Fox News Media, owned by Fox Corporation. Transmitting from studios in New York City. Contributes to transmitting 86 countries and worldwide, with international broadcasts with the collaboration of Fox Extra. Created by Rupert Murdoch and addressed to a conservative audience, with Roger Ailes, former Republican, as founding CEO. Launched in 1996, during the 1990s and 2000s it became the dominant subscription news network in the United States. In 2018 the public was 87 million households. In 2019 Fox News was the top-rated cable network. Fox News was defined as reporting in favour of Republican Party, the administration of George Bush and Donald Trump, while portraying in a bad light the Democratic Party, Defined as unfavourable for the integrity of news overall. The employees said the opposite, describing the independence of opinion and commentary , denying bias in news reporting. Observers have expressed their opinion about the service during the Trump administration, illustrating the ‘’propaganda’’ approach.

People’s Daily (China) People’s Daily7 is the biggest newspaper group in China. It’s the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, published all over the world. Additionally to its Chinese language edition, there are versions in English, Spanish, French, Russian and other ten languages. Giving direct information about the policies and directions of the Chinese Communist Party. Operating through ‘’writing task groups’’ in order to create editorial pieces. These groups need the approval through ‘’signatures’’ that conforms to what the government or the Communist Party stands for.

Reuters (International) Reuters8 is an international news organisation owned by Thomson Reuters. Its staff is composed of 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists allocated in 200 locations around the world. Allocated in in 1851 by Paul Reuter, later on became property of Thomson Corporation in 2008, making nowadays media content under the division of Thomson Reuters. In 2014 Reuters counted 200 cities in 94 countries in more than 20 languages. In 2016 the intellectual property was sold by Thomson Reuters. The agency’s policy is oriented towards not using the word ‘’terrorist’’ in its narrations through a ‘‘value-neutral approach’’.

Sputnik News (Russia) Sputnik News 9 is a Russian state-controlled news agency, news website platform and radio broadcast service. Created by the Russian government-owned news agency Rossiya Segodnya in 2014. The agency

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defines itself oriented towards global politics and economics and aims for an international audience, with headquarters from Washington to Beijing. The New York Times described it as a Russian propaganda outlet, such definition was later on rejected by the Russian government. In 2019, CNN Business noted how Facebook removed many pages on its social media , previously considered independent but were actually under the surveillance of the Sputnik employees, demonstrating a complete use of censorship. The agency operates in 31 languages, with more than 800 hours of radio broadcasting content daily and 24/7 newswire service. Launched in 2014 aims to give a full view about the world-wide events against the current unipolar vision. The President itself described the goal of the agency as oriented towards breaking the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon global information streams.

The Guardian (U.K.) The Guardian10, British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It consists of the contents from the newspapers The Guardian and The Observer, together with a generous body of work produced on the web by its employees. In 2014, it was considered the second most popular online newspaper in the , counting 17 million readers monthly. The main themes covered are: business, technology, sport, business, lifestyle and arts. The Agency has a strong interaction with the readers, made thanks to the long-running talkboards and network of weblogs. Owned by Scott Trust, a charitable foundation with the main goal of keeping the independence and financial health in order to maintain the Agency free from the control of for-profit media groups that could undermine the independent values of the Agency, although The Guardian has always been a left-wing newspaper..

Berliner Tageblatt (Germany, Historical) The Berliner Tageblatt 11 was a German newspaper published in from 1872 to 1939. Together with Frankfurter Zeitung, it was one of the most influential liberal German newspapers of that time. Published in 1872 by Rudolf Mosse, as an advertising paper. Later on became a liberal newspaper. Before 1933 and the National Socialist administration, the newspaper was adverse and discordant with their program, to the point that their editor in chief Theodor Wolff was dismissed because of his critique over the Nazi government. After 1933 the Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels discharged the newspaper from any Nazi propaganda in order to make it appear independent on an international level. Paul Scheffer was nominated editor in 1934. In two years he surrounded himself with a group of independently minded university students, such as Margaret Boveri. Scheffer resigned from his position in the newspaper in 1936, later on in December 1939 the newspaper was closed down by the Nazi authorities.In the previuos years, before World War II, the newspaper considered the Versailles Treaty as ‘‘brutal and thoughtless’’..

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Le Petit Journal (France, Historical) Le Petit Journal 12 was a conservative daily Parisian newspaper founded by Moïse Polydore Millaud, published between 1863 and 1944. It was one of the four major dailies. During the Boulangiste crisis, in 1890, its circulation reached one million copies, expanding this number in the following years. This growth was arrested slowly in the 1900s, consequentially to the Dreyfus Affair. The editor of the newspaper, Ernest Judet, states his position as Anti-Dreyfus, forcing a large number of the readers to move to Le Petit Parisien, because of his neutral position. By 1919 the number of copies was down to 850,000. The initial attraction of this newspaper was his low price, small format and original abstention from the covering politics. Additionally to the news, it covered horoscopes and opinion pieces. Later on it started to describe in every detail the outstanding trials, starting from Troppmann Affairs in 1869.

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5. REFERENCES ​

About Us - Reuters. (2020, August 06). Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://www.reutersagency.com/en/about/about-us/

About Us - Sputnik. Retrieved September 12, 2020, from https://sputniknews.com/docs/about/index.html ​ ​

About Us - People's Daily Online. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from http://en.people.cn/n3/2020/0729/c90000-9716018.html

Berliner Tageblatt. (2020, August 13). Retrieved September 7, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Tageblatt

Buzzfeed - about us. Retrieved September 7, 2020, from https://www.buzzfeed.com/about

Fox News. Retrieved September 7, 2020, from http://press.foxnews.com/

Histoire du Petit Journal. Retrieved September 7, 2020, from http://cent.ans.free.fr/historique.htm

Moore, A. (2016, February 23). Roman contributions to journalism: The acta. Retrieved September 12, 2020, from http://historyofjournalism.onmason.com/2016/02/23/roman-contributions-to-journalism-the-acta/

Opinion - The Guardian. Retrieved September 12, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/uk/commentisfree

RSF yearly round-up: Number of journalists killed in 2019: Reporters without borders. (2019, December 16). Retrieved September 16, 2020, from https://rsf.org/en/news/rsf-yearly-round-historically-low-number-journalists-killed-2019

Tapia, A. What is an Op-Ed Article? Retrieved September 16, 2020, from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/oped-what-is-it-and-how-to-write-it-1360714