Journalists in the Arab world have agreed to hold a major regional conference in November to confront the crisis of ethical standards in media, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said today.

Leaders of national associations and unions from across the Middle East and North Africa agreed in Bahrain yesterday to take action over corruption inside media and to expose journalism that incites sectarian conflicts.

The action, which comes as some governments have been trying to reverse moves towards more press freedom, will focus on an international conference hosted by the Association of Journalists of the United Arab Emirates to be held in Dubai in November. The conference will see the regional launch of the IFJ's global Ethical Journalism Initiative, one of a number of campaigns that make up the broader campaign for press rights in the Middle East and North Africa.

"Journalists in the Middle East and North Africa are organising to clean up the industry," said Aidan White, General Secretary of the IFJ, in Bahrain yesterday.  "Across the region they are insisting on editorial freedom and they are determined to expose those who use media as political weapons."

The meeting in Bahrain, which was hosted by the Bahrain Journalists' Association, also agreed to support a regional conference on media development policy to prepare an Arab world media strategy for the Global Forum for Media Development, which will be held in Athens, Greece, in December.

The calls for strengthening journalistic quality come as mixed messages are being sent out from the region, where recently Arab League Information Ministers agreed guidelines on how countries handle regulation of satellite television that have led to new controls on broadcasters.

The policy was adopted without extensive consultation with journalists and the IFJ is calling for the information ministers to think again. Last month an IFJ conference in Casablanca, which agreed a major campaign - Breaking the Chains - aimed at removing obstacle to press freedom and agreed to seek a formal meeting with the Arab League over the issue.

At the same time, some governments have been taking the sting out of national laws that previously led to journalists being jailed for their work. In Jordan and Bahrain media laws have been changed to remove this threat and this week the United Arab Emirates announced plans to change laws that can lead to jail for journalists. The Bahrain meeting also backed the IFJ campaign launched yesterday over jailed Yemeni journalist Abdul Karim Al Khaiwani.

"Arab journalists are saying enough is enough," said White. "They want an end to the threat of jail for journalistic work. Governments must show they will encourage democracy and press freedom and journalists will do their part to strengthen editorial quality and standards."

For more information contact the IFJ at +32 2 235 2207

The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide