Scheduled to take place every two years, the Cleraun Media Conferences began in 1986 and have gradually grown in stature. They now constitute an important forum where media practitioners can address and discuss ethical and professional issues which arise in the course of their work in a positive and constructive way. The Cleraun Media Forum, a more recent development, has helped to make this an on-going process.
In recent years, the conferences have focused on professional integrity. Earlier, they covered a broad range of topics such as reporting on coverage of international conflicts, and on refugees and asylum-seekers; public service broadcasting and democracy; the role of government press offices in the peace process; investigative journalism; media monopolies; the responsibilities of media owners; whether media practitioners have a brief to change society; a philosophical foundation for media ethics; ethical issues in news reporting; codes of conduct; leaks to the media; the newspaper ombudsman; newspapers and litigation; the media on terrorism, violence and crime.