Preserving and Protecting Press Freedom – Insights from the archive of the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association

The Commonwealth Journalists' Association (CJA) was established at a meeting of Commonwealth journalists held in Toronto, alongside the Commonwealth Press Union conference, on the 16th September 1978, following earlier discussions at a conference of Commonwealth NGOs at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1976. The organisation adopted its constitution at the first general meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, April 1983, with the stated purpose: "To foster and promote better understanding and closer collaboration between the journalists of the Commonwealth; to further the interests of Commonwealth journalists in all aspects of their work; and, though the media, to enhance understanding and goodwill amongst the peoples of the Commonwealth".Now with headquarters in Canada and an active UK branch (as well as many elsewhere) the Commonwealth Journalists' Association continues to be a professional association for working journalists throughout the Commonwealth. The CJA aims to raise journalistic standards by providing training courses, promoting awareness of Commonwealth affairs and defending the independence of journalists where this is perceived to be threatened, through national and regional chapters, advocacy and information sharing activities.The records of the Commonwealth Journalists' Association (CJA) from its beginnings in 1978 to 2003 were donated to the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library, now incorporated within the Senate House Library, University of London, after the organisation moved its headquarters to Trinidad and Tobago in 2003. The collection was listed at box level soon after the material was received, and was fully catalogued in 2012 with financial assistance from the Scott Trust Charitable Foundation and the Friends of Senate House Library.This article seeks to discuss how the collection reveals stories about the preservation and protection of press freedom in the 1980s and early 1990s in a time of civil and political upheaval in the post-colonial developing world, with particular reference to Africa. It will discuss the collection within the context of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies collections and highlight how institutional records of a pan-Commonwealth non-governmental organisation can add to our understanding of this period of a movement towards increased democracy in the post-independence period.This discussion will revolve around three groups of stories: first, one about why this collection sits where it does in this library and how it fits with related collections; secondly a set of narratives about press freedoms and responsibilities in parts of Africa during this period, which can be drawn from reading through the collections; and, thirdly and finally, a brief discussion, of how this collection can be used by researchers in the future.It is useful, I think, to start with some context about the institution and the collections themselves.The Institute of Commonwealth Studies first started to develop an archive collection actively in the mid-1960s, as part of the Colonial Records Project, in which it took responsibility for collecting documents relating to colonial servants who had worked in Sri Lanka. In 1966 C.L.R. James, West Indian politician and cricket lover, deposited some of his papers. Involvement in another collecting initiative, the Southern African Materials Project (taking place between 1973 and 1976), brought in a substantial amount of material.Further commitment to archive development in the late 1970s and the 1980s was demonstrated by the listing of much of the material and the active pursuit of records with the encouragement of former Director Professor Shula Marks. Major accessions included the papers of Simon Taylor, 18th century Jamaican plantation owner, and of Ruth First, the anti-apartheid activist assassinated in 1982. Collections were acquired in some cases by purchase, and more often by donation.The archive holdings complement the Institute's library, which contains approximately 200,000 volumes and runs of more than 7,000 serial publications. …