(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 3 May 2006 IAPA press release: IAPA calls for defense of press freedom and people’s right to know MIAMI, Florida (May 3, 2006) – A call to people throughout the Western Hemisphere to become involved in the right to inform and be informed was issued today by the Inter […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 3 May 2006 IAPA press release:
IAPA calls for defense of press freedom and people’s right to know
MIAMI, Florida (May 3, 2006) – A call to people throughout the Western Hemisphere to become involved in the right to inform and be informed was issued today by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), in commemorating World Press Freedom Day.
The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, expressed regret that the ability to report freely was continuing to face difficulties in a number of countries in the Americas. He cited as “examples of the problems we face” the denial of press freedom in Cuba, the murder of journalists in Mexico and Colombia, and the restrictive legislation and harassment afflicting the press in Venezuela, which he described as “the most emblematic cases” in the region.
Marroquín declared that in the United States “reporters are increasingly being called on by judges and public prosecutors to identify their confidential sources of information,” while in Argentina the government uses the placement of advertising to reward or punish news media for their editorial policies.
“That is why it is important to issue a call to community organizations in all of our countries so that the struggle to defend freedom, which guarantees the people’s right to know, is waged not only by us journalists but is the role of society as a whole, in order to guarantee the people’s rights,” he said.
The IAPA, which represents more than 1,400 newspapers and magazines throughout the Americas, conducts ongoing campaigns to promote respect for freedom of the press, to ensure that crimes against journalists do not go unpunished and that national legislatures do not enact laws placing restrictions upon those that report the news.
IAPA President Diana Daniels, of The Washington Post Company, Washington, D.C., stressed the importance of democratic societies being well informed. “The best way to exercise our rights and for them to be respected is to have access to information and to enjoy freedom of expression,” she said.
On this symbolic day Daniels is in Brazil, where she is taking part in IAPA activities and meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who signed the IAPA-sponsored Declaration of Chapultepec, a document setting out 10 principles for freedom of the press.
Among the scheduled IAPA activities concerning press freedom issues is a planned mission to Venezuela on a date yet to be agreed upon with the Venezuelan authorities, in particular with President Hugo Chávez, the objective being to discuss legislation restricting the press and legal proceedings being taken against a number of journalists.
Daniels and Marroquín together took advantage of the World Press Freedom Day commemorations to send a message to all journalists in the hemisphere, “especially those in jail or being persecuted,” and reaffirmed the IAPA’s decision to keep on fighting to defend and extend press freedom in the Americas.
Marroquín said the good news on this occasion is that a number of countries have accepted the IAPA’s suggestions concerning restrictive legislation. Among these, he said, were the cases of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, countries that have repealed insult laws. He also mentioned proposed laws providing for access to information currently being debated in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Paraguay, which, if enacted, would join those already existing in Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Dominican Republic.
