Glasnost Defense Foundation

The Glasnost Defense Foundation "provides legal support and advocacy to mass media in Russia. Established in Moscow in 1991, the GDF has established and supported ten regional Legal Defense Centers around Russia. There is also a monitoring network in all CIS republics. Staffed by lawyers and other professionals, the Centers conduct day-to-day monitoring of media rights abuses around Russia and the CIS...

"GDF is a member of IFEX and an associate member of the World Press Freedom Committee. The Foundation has partnerships with Article 19 and the Index on Censorship and works closely with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters sans frontieres, Helsinki Watch and Amnesty International.

"The GDF has worked closely with Internews Russia since the latter organization was founded in Moscow in 1992. GDF’s cooperation with Internews has included co-sponsoring journalists’ training programs on media law, publishing and distributing educational books and other materials, and implementing electronic publication on the Internet.

"The President of GDF Aleksei Simonov is a member of the Carter Commission on TV Policy and Deputy Chairman of the Licensing Commission under the Federal TV and Radio Service (Russian Federation).

"In 1994 The Glasnost Defense Foundation was awarded a prize for press freedom by the International Press-Center in Moscow. In February 1999 the Glasnost Defense Foundation won the Femida Prize for contributions to creating democratic society and developing legal state institutions.

"The Glasnost Defense Foundation has worked with and/or received grants from: the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Eurasia Foundation, the US Agency for International Development, the Know How Found, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the World Press Freedom Committee, UNESCO, and the governments of Switzerland, Great Britain, and Canada."

Contact

 * Web: http://www.gdf.ru/english/index.shtml

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Ford Foundation/Projects supported by the Ford Foundation
 * Manana Aslamazian