Press Aid for East Timor The World Association of Newspapers and UNESCO are launching a new initiative to help rebuild the newspaper industry in war-torn East Timor. A mission of technical experts will leave on Sunday (30 January) for East Timor to assess the needs of the local press for printing facilities and a distribution […]
Press Aid for East Timor
The World Association of Newspapers and UNESCO are launching a new initiative to help rebuild the newspaper industry in war-torn East Timor.
A mission of technical experts will leave on Sunday (30 January) for East Timor to assess the needs of the local press for printing facilities and a distribution network.
“Establishing a strong, free press is a vital and urgent priority in the process of building a new democracy on the island,” said Timothy Balding, Director General of WAN.
Koichiro Matsuura, the Director General of UNESCO, said: “An independent press in Timor is an essential factor for the development of democracy. The project, which we have entrusted to the World Association of Newspapers, is an example of a partnership that the United Nations system, in particular UNESCO, should continue to promote in the future with professional media organizations.”
The WAN/UNESCO mission, supported by advice from the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association, will prepare funding proposals for the international community, which has committed itself to rebuilding East Timor, devastated in the recent conflict.
The mission team consists of John Cox, of Sydney, Australia, a newspaper production consultant and former Chief Production Manager for John Fairfax Ltd.; Lloyd Donaldson, a New Zealander based in St. Petersburg, Russia and Director of Rusmedia Consultants; and Carlos Arnaldo, Chief of Media Development for UNESCO.
The team will be in East Timor from 1 to 3 February and will work with UNTAET, the United Nations administration in East Timor. The initiative follows an ongoing WAN/UNESCO project to help the independent press in Kosovo and in Serbia and Macedonia.
That project aims to build a private distribution network for independent newspapers in Kosovo and Macedonia; to provide new private printing facilities for independent publications in Serbia; and to extend the existing independent distribution network in Serbia and Montenegro.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 17,000 newspapers; its membership includes 63 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and
seven regional and world-wide press groups.
