Milan - Saatchi &
Saatchi Italy and The European Initiative for Media Pluralism launch ALTphabet:
a campaign in defense of pluralism and freedom of the media, which involves
major European newspapers.
The
safeguarding of freedom of expression, independence of the media, and the fight
against online censorship: these are the themes of the new international
campaign ALTphabet, promoted by the European Initiative for Media Pluralism in
conjunction with Saatchi & Saatchi.
This initiative was launched with the aim of collecting 1 million
signatures across Europe to support freedom of the press, through the ECI -
European Citizens’ Initiative.
This is not a
simple petition but a real tool of direct democracy in favor of European
citizens. In fact, if we collect 1 million signatures in at least 7
countries, the European Commission will have the opportunity to promote a
Directive in favor of the independence of the media and thwart the control of
which the media is suffering.
ALTphabet is
the name of an encrypted code, created by Saatchi & Saatchi Italy, to
encode and protect online messages: a tool for demonstrating support for the
independence of the media and to raise public awareness.
On the
website - http://www.altphabet.org
– a multilingual translator allows users to encode their message in 7 different
languages in ALTphabet, and then share it on their Facebook and Twitter
profiles, in order to raise public opinion awareness with a clear visual
message. The platform was also developed by Saatchi & Saatchi Italy.
"For
those involved in the communication market, these last few years have been a unique
and unrepeatable period. Each and every
day we have the opportunity to discover new possibilities, which may in some
cases substantially change our lives. While pressing and holding the ALT key on
your computer keyboard, it is possible to write an alternative alphabet, which
we decided to call ALTphabet, and that can be decrypted with a simple software.
Above all, ALTphabet, could become a useful tool to fight censorship and a
guarantee for the freedom of the press and freedom of expression," said Giuseppe
Caiazza, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Italy and Head of Automotive Business for
Saatchi & Saatchi EMEA.
"Both
the European Union and the media are at an historic turning point. The European
Union is called to give coherent answers to its citizens not only regarding an
economic point of view, but also regarding the safeguard of their human and
civil rights. At the same time the media
are called to shake off the false ideology of the "web" as the
solution to all problems. ALTphabet is a powerful tool for raising awareness in
our fight to have more informed citizens across Europe, the same Europe that we
believe should be more democtratic," says Lorenzo Marsili Giovanni Melogli of
Media Initiative.
Newspapers
that have joined this initiative and have already published articles in
ALTphabet include; the online edition of La Repubblica in Italy, Open Democracy
in England, L'Humanité in France, the Journalist in Germany, Le Soir in
Belgium, Der Standard in Austria, the Capital of Bulgaria, and Cyprus Community
Media in Cyprus. Readers found on their
online newspaper an article written in ALTphabet, and an invitation to decode
it with a redirect on www.altphabet.org
It is
possible to sign the ECI (European Citizens ' Initiative) both on alphabet.org
and on http://www.mediainitiative.eu/