(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 30 November 2000 IAPA press release: IAPA ORGANIZES TWELFTH NATIONAL FORUM ON THE DECLARATION OF CHAPULTEPEC Miami (November 30) – Last week, the Inter American Press Association organized the National Forum on the Declaration of Chapultepec in Brazil, as part of its cycle of national forums promoting the Declaration […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 30 November 2000 IAPA press release:
IAPA ORGANIZES TWELFTH NATIONAL FORUM ON THE DECLARATION OF CHAPULTEPEC
Miami (November 30) – Last week, the Inter American Press Association organized the National Forum on the Declaration of Chapultepec in Brazil, as part of its cycle of national forums promoting the Declaration which contains ten fundamental principles necessary to achieve freedom of expression and free press in the Americas.
The forum began on Tuesday, November 21, in São Paulo, with a press conference on the IAPA’s mission and objectives in Brazil. Leading the press conference was IAPA Executive Director Julio E. Muñoz, who was joined by IAPA Regional Vice Chairman for Brazil of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Paulo Cabral, Correio Braziliense, Brasília; Director of the Freedom of the Press Committee of the Brazilian Association of Newspapers (ANJ), Deusdedith Aquino, Estado de Minas, Belo Horizonte; and IAPA Executive Committee member, Jayme Sirotsky, Zero Hora, Porto Alegre – each offering their views on the state of press freedom in Brazil.
That evening, newspaper editors and publishers from throughout the country were invited to a special welcome cocktail and dinner at the Hotel Crowne Plaza São Paulo. Newspaper representatives from the States of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Goiânia, Minas Gerais, Maranhão, and Distrito Federal were present. Each received a copy of the Declaration of Chapultepec to bring to their newsrooms.
The following day, the IAPA organized a panel discussion on “Freedom of the Press and the Declaration of Chapultepec in Brazil”. The nation’s leading press attorneys, Manuel Alceu Affonso Ferreira, Saulo Ramos, Marcos Antônio Campos Berraza, and Ives Gandra da Silva Martins, participated in the panel, offering insight into the current state of press freedom in Brazil. The panel was organized primarily for journalism students. Representatives from nine journalism programs were present during the discussion. These included: Pontificia Universidade Catolica de São Paulo, Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes, Faculdade Casper Líbero, Universidade São Judas Tadeu, Instituto Metodista de Ensino Superiores, Faculdade Integradas Alcântara Machado, Universidade Santa Cecília (Santos) and Curso Intenviso de Jornalismo Aplicado – O Estado de São Paulo.
The IAPA delegation then traveled to the nation’s capital, where they organized a breakfast with leading politicians, many of whom signed the Declaration of Chapultepec in support of freedom of the press in Brazil. These include: Carlos Velloso, President of the Supreme Court; Michel Temer, President of the House of Representatives; Antonio Carlos Magalhães, President of the Senate; Gilberto Saboia, National Secretary on Human Rights; Gilmar Mendes, Attorney General; Nilson Neves, Vice President of the Supreme Court of Justice; Senator Pedro Simon, Representative Joaquim Santos Filho, and President of the National Federation of Journalists, Beth Costa. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso already signed the Declaration on August 9, 1996.
In his welcoming remarks, the President of the Brazilian Association of Newspapers, Francisco Mesquita Neto, stated, “This commitment reinforces the need for a deep understanding that without a free press, there is no democracy, and then, the people’s right to information cannot persist.” He continued, “This work and these meetings are beneficial in strengthening democracy in the American continent and for putting into practice the principles of the Declaration of Chapultepec in Brazil.”
The National Forum ended in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, November 24, when the IAPA delegation met with professors and students of the Journalism Program at the School of Communications at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
While in each city, the IAPA visited major newspapers to speak to journalists about the Declaration of Chapultepec and present them with large copies that could be hung in the newsroom and used daily. These newspapers included: O Estado de São Paulo, Folha de S. Paulo, and Gazeta Mercantil in São Paulo; Correio Braziliense, and Jornal de Brasília in Brasília; and O Globo, O Dia and Jornal do Brasil in Rio de Janeiro.
In Brazil, the National Forum received organizational support from the Brazilian Association of Newspapers (ANJ) and from the IAPA Regional Vice Chairman for Brazil, Paulo Cabral, Correio Braziliense, Brasília.
