History of the IPI (1950-1959)
IPI was founded on the belief that a free press would contribute to the creation of a better world. The idea for such an organisation evolved in the aftermath of the Second World War when the extreme press manipulations for propaganda purposes was still fresh in the memory of many, lowering journalistic standards and the profession as a whole.
Consequences of the war, increasing economic pressure, prejudices, censorship, world inequality, turbulences in world diplomacy, etc. seriously affected the journalistic profession resulting in newspapers losing their credibility.
The need for an institution like IPI was evident.
Only a few weeks prior to establishment of IPI, 15 foreign editors, all founders of IPI, were received by President Truman in Washington, DC.
In October 1950, 34 editors from 15 countries met at Columbia University in New York to form a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of the practices of journalism. See the list of IPI Founders.
The following objectives, set in the early days and included in the Preamble to the Constitution of the IPI, still remain the same:
• The furtherance and safeguarding of freedom of the press, by which is meant: free access to the news, free transmission of news, free publication of newspapers, free expression of views
• The achievement of understanding amongst journalists and so among peoples
• The promotion of the free exchange of accurate and balanced news among nations
• The improvement of the practices of journalism.
On May 16, 1951, the establishment of IPI was formally declared. The first office with the original staff of four was set in a room on the top floor of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung in Switzerland.
In the first decade IPI was chiefly active in Europe and the United States. The Constitutional Conference was held in Paris in 1951.
Initial strategies and concrete tasks carried out in the first decade included:
• Survey of press freedom worldwide
• Improving the presentation of news on international affairs
• Study on reporting news about the Soviet Union
• Study on press freedom in Argentina
• First bilateral meeting of French and German journalists followed by a series of related bilateral talks through the decade
• The first IPI Executive Board held in Paris
• Publication "The Flow of the News"
• Conference on Problems of EEC and EFTA
• Trilateral meeting of German, French and Swiss journalists to discuss “Europeanisation”
• Flow of the news and circulation of information
• Television news and its effects on the press
• The foreign news and the readers, press and international relations.
The first General Assembly (GA) was held in Paris (1952) gathering 101 editors from 21 countries.
Until the end of the decade the following GAs were held in London (1953), Vienna (1954), Copenhagen (1955), Zurich (1956), Amsterdam (1957), Washington DC (1958), and Berlin (1959).
Sources: IPI Reports and IPI photo archive.
•1960-1969 •1970-1979 •1980-1989 •1990-1999 •2000-2009
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The Fifties – historical events:
• Castro becomes dictator of Cuba
• Disneyland opens
• Elvis gyrates on Ed Sullivan Show
• First modern credit card introduced
• James Dean dies in a car accident
• Laika the dog goes into space
• Segregation ruled illegal in U.S.
• First organ transplant
• Korean War begins
• Senator Joseph McCarthy begins communist witch hunt
• European Common Market established with the Treaty of Rome
• U.S. President Truman orders construction of hydrogen bomb
• Establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement
Sources: www.history1900s.about.com and Wikipedia.
