PRESS CORPS

1 TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Letter from the Chair 2

Press Corps and Media Bias 4

What is a Press Corps? 4

The Ideal Press Corp 4

The Press and Media during history 4

Committee Procedure 5

Press Conferences 5

Articles 6

Photography 7

Videos 7

Other graphs 7

Social and online media 7

WordPress 7

Twitter 7

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Instagram 8

Facebook 8

Others 8

Committee Dynamic 8

Language and point of view 8

Follow of the committee 8

Interaction with committees 8

Rules and evaluation 8

Bibliography 8

3 A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Welcome everyone to MUNUR’18! My name is Antonella Calle and I recently majored in Economics from Universidad del Pacifico in . I’m looking forward to being part in MUNUR’18 and meet you all.

My MUN experience started in 2015 when I joined Peruvian Debate Society (PDS) and attended 4 national conferences. In my international experience, I have attended HNMUN’16 and HNMUN’18, which have been one of my greatest experience in MUN so far. Also, I was the Press Corps Director in MUNUR’16, which marks my love for the dynamic of this committee, especially how challenging it is to highlight not only the skills to communicate but also to relate with other delegates from other committees. In this way, you end knowing what the trending topics are in the committees and the important decisions, the delegates are being part of.

These experiences take me to a holistic point of view about MUN which for me, seek the knowledge and the diplomacy from all delegates. I have always try to seek in a Press Corps committee’s experience the challenges, because is a very different and dynamic committee which all of you can highlight your skills and the risk each one takes, in order to communicate the great stories, you have. I hope all of you are as excited as me to start this committee and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any doubt!

Antonella Calle

4 Welcome everyone to MUNUR’18! My name is Raccelli Benitez, most people call me Rachel and I am Peruvian. I am grateful to be part of this project and wait with great anticipation for MUNUR 18’.

I am currently in my last semester of Business Administration at Broward College. I am often characterized as a student that is always seeking a further purpose and to excel in life. I find myself constantly doing extracurricular activities such as volunteering, sports, and in this case MUN.

My MUN experience started in the year 2017 with PDS (Peruvian Debate Society). Ever since I started MUN related activities I have always searched for a diplomatic, educational, creative, and unique experiences. From both positions, staff, and delegate, I have always tried to transmit a sense of innovation and “bring something different to the table”. I assure that I will do everything within my reach to bring a memorable and unique experience for everyone!

Rachel Benitez

5 PRESS CORPS AND MEDIA BIAS

What is a Press Corps? The Press and Media during history

A Press Corps is the person who seeks information and Today, the role media plays in society varies differently knows how to transmit the most relevant aspects of between countries, regarding their respective the decisions and problems that are being debated. governmental systems. For instance, we could see As a Press Corp, you should have an objective point of some non-democratic states which take control over view about the facts that are happening around the the press media by government intervention such as world and be able to acquire information from every laws and restrictions to the right of free - press. Even committee, delegate, director, assistant director, more, the reasons why this happens is to protect the moderator and staff member of the conference. government interest and their fear of being exposed in the press media. This way there are existing That is why a Press Corp should not only have restrictions towards propaganda, articles, topics that all the information from others but also have cannot be written about or restriction of information enough knowledge and understanding about the in some countries. Countries such as Eritrea, North topics in the discussion by research. However, the Korea, China, and Cuba place the control on the press conference, the interviews to delegates, the media with the use of overt and covert censorship director’s opinions are valuable information a Press tactics such as media monopolization, espionage and Corps should balance with their own research and journalist detention or imprisonment (Committee to knowledge. By knowing that, it is your role as part of a Protect Journalists, 2015). press team to critique, examine the policy, proposals, and actions taken through the committees. That On the other hand, we have democratic societies, is why we consider a Press Corps role important to where the right of opinion is open to everyone. Even dynamize any committee they are taking part of and further, the media is protected by Constitutional and to also expose anything that is not being discussed or legal mandate, in order to ensure its independence the reasons why this is happening. from the government. This allows the media to play a principal role in states, disseminating information The Ideal Press Corp of public interest and giving further control-checks to governments (Crash Course, 2015). Nonetheless, The ideal Press Corp is the delegate which can the media in these states are aware that works as influence a committee and expose what is happening watchdogs (Hoover Institution, 2017), who expose from an objective point of view. The delegate should the corruptions cases, the government scandals or go further of only informing of what is happening, those that are not playing by the rules of politicians. they should discuss what is happening, question It is because of this that they are terrified of getting the decisions and know the point of view they are caught and being part of a corrupted case, by this, informing (from the newspaper you will represent). the media trys to assure the correct functioning of Even more, they should have knowledge about what the democracy in the country. the committees’ topics are, because, even though they are not debating them, they could promote However, these medias that are independent of the debate into solutions and topics which are not states, objectivity could suffer a hard time during being discussed. All these actions must be taken these years. That is why the term “news objectivity” with the main objective of having better and well- is a fairly new topic and comes as no surprise that informed resolutions which solve the problems of some newspapers are linked to particulars political the committees that are being debated. parties and economic interests of their publisher (Collins English Dictionary, 2009). Even though the media is independent of governments, there is the existence of economical motives to blind the

6 freedom that is given by democratic governments. articles or media from the Press Conference, isa Moreover, these economic motives have translated great opportunity to sharp the creativeness from the into the actual call: Yellow or Propaganda Journalism. delegates, we are looking for! This kind of journalism uses the sensationalism and the exaggeration of facts and acts in an intentional Articles desire to mislead. They could be biased or be a It is important to notice that objectivity is a key fact misunderstanding of facts, nonetheless, they are still in the articles media. Delegates should maintain their not behaving in the correct way to inform the public objective point of view, based on facts and direct about the world most important topics. quotes from the committees in charge. Delegate’s personal opinions must not be part of the articles, In this committee, Press Corps will be encouraged nonetheless they are highly encouraging to research to challenge yourselves in order to inform, discuss in the organization or newspaper points of view or and dynamize the committees you will be in charge biased they are representing of, combining your own abilities and skills with the Positive examples: knowledge on the important topic around the world. President X release an initiative to reduce world We highly encourage you to explore and learn in hunger to 50% by 2020 accompanied by President Y. this process and have a great experience interacting The delegation from Z considers that the W Plan with delegates, directors, assistant directors from from Working Paper 1.2 goes against human rights. other committees. Even more, we encourage you to Poor Examples: challenge the committees and see how you contribute The delegation from Z is right in consider that in a further discussion from these committees. Working Paper 1.2 goes against human rights and should definitely not passed. Committee Procedure This part will explain the procedure in all the matter This committee will accept three kinds of articles. Hard this committee will ask for. news, soft news features, and editorials, however, delegates could deliver any of them. Nonetheless, Press Conferences they are highly encouraged to deliver from the four types of articles. Through the conferences, Press Corps could conduct any Press Conference at the discretion of the other Hard news is the type of article which represent directors from MUNUR 18. The delegate in charge breaking news or a political update. They are articles of the committee with a Press Conference has the which cover the news that could change the way a challenge to posing questions to a large number committee is expected to go. It should be considered of delegates or even a few ones, is under their an unexpected event, for example, a crisis updates discretion, considering their relevance to the topic in a committee. In contrast with soft news which they are discussing in the committee. represent a more depth investigation of what is happening in the committee and which are more like In the procedure, Press Conference should have a a research report with the discussion the delegate duration between 10 – 20 minutes, and the questions develops. Moreover, features are likely freestyle which are going to be asked should be handled to present topics. They are meant to cover more to the director of the committee and the directors background information and delegation’s points of from Press Corps via email (detail at the end). The view, that is why they could be profiles from delegates Press Conference committees will be notified one or MUNUR directors or staff. session before it occurs and the delegates which are Last, opinion articles or editorials which as the name not assigned in this committee must also attend to says are opinion articles that should demonstrate the the Press Conference. If you are assigned to a Press delegate’s newspaper point of view. It is based on Conferences ‘committee it is your job to create the opinion, but they are meant to be based on critiques real press conference environment, with all the or praise which are allowed in this kind of articles. tools you will think that are necessary. They will be under your own creative. The delegates participating or not, are highly encouraging to further develop 7 Positive examples:

The initiative presents in Draft Resolution 1.1 by delegates from X, Y, Z will be redundant due to the program WXY presented by the UNESCO three years ago which tackle the same objective. Poor examples The bad initiative presents in Draft Resolution 1.1 by delegates from X, Y, Z is the worst presented and should not be passed.

Photography

All the tools needed for photography should be delivered by the delegate. They are encouraged to take photos during the committees and outside them. They could use the photo as a support tool to their articles or be the principal media to present which a short description of what they are trying to highlight with the photo. Every photo should have a short description and a purpose of what it wants to be represented.

Photography will be evaluated by their formal structure and their storytelling value.

Videos

Delegates have the freedom to cover the committee with any filmmaking production. Nonetheless, they should bear in mind that any of them must not exceed the 4 minutes and should stay faithful in what your media organization usually presents. There is no problem that delegates use any editing program or tools that they think is necessary for their production, is important that delegates bring every tool they need for the video production.

Other graphs

The delegates are highly encouraged to create other media that is accurate and will complement more their analysis of the committees. Other types of graphs are also accurate if their media they are representing use them too. This kind of media could be cartoons, infographics.

8 SOCIAL AND ONLINE MEDIA

WordPress Facebook

By the time the committee starts, a link will be An account can register for each Press Corps, the uploaded, where all the writing and visual media will link must be sent in the e-mail mentioned at the end be posted. The delegates are encouraged to decorate, of the study guide to be evaluated. This platform motivate, and be creative regarding their part of the is recognized globally and could be used as an blog. advantage to post videos, updates, or even links to other social media accounts. The delegates should Twitter maintain all the posted information as relevant for the committees and that it has a storytelling value. The delegates are encouraged to create a Twitter account for the media they are representing. The Others username should be sent to the MUNUR Press Corps e-mail specified at the end of the study guide. Delegates are encouraged to use other sources of Twitter is an important social media to upload a 400 social media that may be found convenient such as characters news, especially for hard news on what Pinterest, Tumblr, between others. All new sources is currently happening in the committees. However, are welcome in MUNUR18 as long as the link is sent trending hashtags are also a good way to accompany to our e-mail and the relevance is a key factor to these 400-character information and reach more choose any other source, such as the reach for more people, other delegates will be encouraged to use photos or videos by followers or other people. them. In addition, the delegates could also post links Committee Dynamic from other social media on Twitter to reach more Delegates should take into consideration that the people. Press Corps Committee operates in a different way than other committees. The committee will have Instagram a room as a headquarters, where delegates could develop their articles, videos or social media, as An individual account can be created by each Press mentioned before in the study guide, they should Corps in which, pictures, videos, stories and between take everything they will need to make this possible, others can be posted. Instagram is a popular social such as laptops, programs, cameras, and more media in which many rely on to obtain information. on. Nonetheless, it is convenient that during the The username should be sent to the e-mail of MUNUR sessions, delegates will be visiting all the committees Press Corps mentioned at the end of the study guide. assigned, such as conducting interviews, participating In order to have greater reach on Instagram, followers in updates, and working in information, they will like are a key fact in their account such as the relevant to present later on. In this section, the delegates on what they post. However, Instagram is a more have to consider the language, how they are going to liberal in their posts, the delegates could share more manage with other committees and the perspective background stories and have fun using this media, they should have. creativity and all the tools given by Instagram are an advantage for them.

9 Language and point of view Press Corps room, they will receive all the mandatory work they have to deliver by the end of the day plus Each delegate would be assigned a news organization a small challenge to keep them actively participating with a point of view and work dynamic, which each in the conference. However, the delegates are highly reporter should study and furthermore apply to encouraged to deliver, as much media as they think the conference. Thus, some of the media assigns is pertinent. will take a stance of an unbiased and independent organization. Nonetheless, each reporter will have Please, take into consideration that quality is better their own way of writing, it is important to notice than quantity in order to choose your committees that the news organization is assigned with a varying and the media you are working on. Each day, the of colors or outlooks it should provide. Reporters are committee will meet in the room assigned to it, and encouraged to take into consideration their respective then all the reporters could go to the committees news organization’s viewpoint when deciding what they are following. conferences are to be covered and how they should be subject of their news coverages. Interaction with committees Each delegate will have the opportunity to interact For this Committee, some of the newspapers that will with other delegates in unmoderated caucuses be accompanying us will be: or during the start or end of the debate, to have • Associated Press interviews, photos, videos, and other. They could • BBC also have the directors, assistant director or any staff • Le Monde testimony, every time it is pertinent. • Al-Jazeera • Izvestia Moreover, and how it was specified before, if the • The Guardian committee a delegate is covering has preselected • Wall Street Journal an article, video or any kind of media the delegate • Washington Post worked on for an update or press conference, they • will notify us about it, to take into consideration in • Deutsche Welle the evaluation, and furthermore, coordinate with the • El País directors in the committee. We really smile upon to • China Daily these kinds of media in committees and the role of • CNN information going further. • El Comercio • El Tiempo Rules and evaluation • Haaretz Every media that published such as writing, visual • The Times of or social media should be delivered by mail to [email protected] if it wants to be Procedure of the committee evaluated and take into consideration. In the case of social media, delegates are highly encouraging In this case, the delegates will have the freedom to to send the links from their posts or usernames to choose as many committees as they would like. A follow their performance. number between two and four committees, however, would be optimal. Nonetheless, the first day of the There is a small review of the rules or guidelines committee they will be assigned one mandatory the delegates should consider for the Press Corps committee they have to assist, inform and cover. Even Committee: further, if any delegate’s article or notice, is selected 1. Sourcing: As the delegate is representing a news to be part of an update, press conference, or further, organization, it is important that they could obtain they could coordinate any of these topics, first with information and material from other reporters or the Press Corps DIAs and then with each director in sources. All this information should be credit in the the committee they are taking part. The importance is articles or it might qualify as plagiarism. that the delegates inform in what they are being part of. Even further, each day of the committee, in the 10 2. Usage of electronic devices inside the committees:

During the conference, the delegates are highly encouraged to use their electronic devices inside the Press Corps room. Nonetheless, inside other committees they are highly encouraged to first request the other directors, to avoid any misunderstanding with the delegates.

Position Paper

Given that there is not a specific topic in the Press Corps committee, the Position Paper send to us should outline three main characteristics in 500 – 700 words: • News outlet background. Information about the news media they are representing, its mission, audience, their primary work, funding, or previous coverages, topics preference. • The position of the news organization towards the media, consider their bias such as political or economic views or any distinctive characteristic from the others. • Present the committees the news organization will cover in MUNUR18 and present the way the delegate will represent the news organization during the conference and the different approach to the topics they will like to cover.

11 BIBLIOGRAPHY

“10 Most Censored Countries,” Committee to Protect Journalists. 2015. Crash Course (2015). Crash Course: Freedom of the Press

Hoover Institution. (2017). A Brief History of Media Bias. Retrieved: http://www.hoover.org/research/brief-history-media-bias

Collins English Dictionary (2009): Watchdog, HarperCollins Publishers New York.

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