It’s always great pleasure to introduce and promote new citizen journalism projects and platforms who are advocating for press freedom and human rights. Today we talk about Irrepressible Voices with Isabel Gahren and Linda Walter.

Q: Irrepressible Voices - inspiring name and project. Tell us how and when the Irrepressible Voices idea started ?

A: Irrepressible Voices was born a year ago during the 5th initiative on Human Rights and Internet by the Think Tank Internet & Gesellschaft Collaboratory. We asked bloggers from around the world, to send us their video on how the internet helps to enforce Human Rights. We got an overwhelming response and felt the need for people to broadcast their living environment and realities. We started Irrepressible Voices with the support of Futurechallenges.org and the Internet & Gesellschaft Collaboratory.

Q: How does it work ?

A: Online activists, bloggers and citizen journalists (we call them Irrepressible Voices, IVs) from all over the world will be able to securely upload videos to our platform.

Once uploaded, the community of IVs will help to verify the content, discuss the topics and help to establish solutions. Afterwards, Irrepressible Voices will

• place the topics in international media to raise awareness for the cause
  of the IVs through establishing media collaborations




• and connect them with partner NGOs, all experts in their fields, to work
  conjointly on the implementation of the crowdsourced solution proposals.

Also, at any moment, people who feel affine to the project and want to support in any other way can always send us en email to info(at)irrepressiblevoices.org.

Q: What does it take to become a part of Irrepressible Voices community?

A: An interest in changing things for the better!

If you want to become an IV, the only thing you have to do is to register on our platform. Afterwards, you can

• directly upload your own human rights related video,




• discuss, rate and verify the videos that are already online,




• help establishing solution proposals for identified problems.

Q: What is your goal ?

A: Our goal reflects in our slogan: Empower people, raise awareness, create change!

We want to make people’s voices heard by providing a platform for their content, connecting them with each other and strong partners to raise awareness for their cause and, thus, create change!

Irrepressible Voices is dedicated to empower any form of citizen and grassroots journalism and human rights activism. It helps raising awareness by placing people’s topics bottom up-wise and creates social change through promoting grassroots development of solutions identified by an internet community which is supported by experts.

Q: Do you have partners in this outstanding project ?

A: We count as supporters:
Reporters without Borders Germany,
Futurechallenges.org ,
Witness.org ,
Collaboratory ,
Social Impact Lab ,
Sourcefabric

Furthermore we can count on several collaborations between other affine Start Ups and Project Partners, e.g. educational video workshops in collaboration with the Berlin based Start Up Global Eyes Production .

Q: What is your vision of cooperation between traditional and citizen journalism ?

A: Traditional media is very static and slow in operating out of their self-constructed ivory towers.

A lot of big media companies reduce their staff and cut down the number of correspondents abroad. Also, there is a huge distrust in data-journalism and opening up to the internet as a tool for broadcasting people’s realities and living environment. If traditional journalism wants to survive, it cannot escape the participatory possibilities and forces, new technology offers to citizen journalism. Traditional media should embrace this opportunity to help creating synergies, foster and employ citizen journalism, without outsourcing their labor of work nor reducing staff by seeing citizen journalism as a cheap tool to cover topics.

Irrepressible Voices tackles into this challenge and connects citizen journalists with traditional media to produce better, not cheaper content. Also, via promoting user-generated content, it places people’s topics first and bottom up and helps identifying challenges.

Q: How do you see citizen journalism in the future ?

A: Even though smartphones are globally on the rise, it is still difficult for people in conflict regions to make their voice heard. Citizen journalism will play a crucial role in raising awareness for issues, that are out of reach of (mass) media’s focus. The massive spread of the Internet makes citizen journalism a powerful tool to ensure a new and innovative media approach and sustainable free press. Therefore citizen journalism needs to be encouraged through commitments of governments and foundations, as well as media organisations. Together they must help to create ethical codes for the distribution of newsworthy content for everybody, not only citizen journalists.

We thank Irrepressible Voices team for wonderful interview :

Isabel Gahren (Journalist)
Eike Leonhardt (Citizen Scientist)
Linda Walter (Human Rights Expert)

Tags: citizen journalists, Irrepressible Voices, online activists