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    TV news presenters join forces to help free detained journalists

    Prominent presenters from multiple news organisations have highlighted the importance of journalism by uniting to create a 40-second film which ends with a collage of photos of journalists around the world muted as part of the FreeAJStaff campaign. (video)

    The coming together of news organisations in one film features CNN's Christiane Amanpour, ITN's Mark Austin and Julie Etchingham, Channel Seven Australia's Mark Ferguson, and Al Jazeera English's Shiulie Ghosh.

    The presenters ask their viewers to "imagine a world where reality is distorted; imagine being kept in the dark about major world events; and imagine being silenced when speaking out could save your life."

    Al Anstey, managing director of Al Jazeera English, says, "We are very grateful to our colleagues around the world for their support of our staff detained in Egypt. Mohamed, Baher, and Peter are world-class journalists and are in detention for simply doing their job.

    TV news presenters join forces to help free detained journalists
    TV news presenters join forces to help free detained journalists

    "We have seen massive support for them and for journalism from all corners of the globe, so the message of this film is clear - journalism matters and people have a right to be heard and to be informed."

    The hashtag #FreeAJStaff has now had over 786 million impressions since it was launched during a day of action in Nairobi on 4 February 2014.

    Al Jazeera English journalists Peter Greste, Baher Mohammed and Mohammed Fahmy have been detained by the Egyptian authorities since 29 December 2013. Al Jazeera Arabic's Abdullah Elshamy has been detained since 14 August 2013.

    The film is available for all media organisations and supporters to broadcast and upload online in support of media freedom worldwide.

    For more, download the film (high resolution broadcast version), or go to www.aljazeera.com.

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