World Press Freedom Day

Former Uruguayan President Julio María Sanguinetti said “there is no democracy without press freedom” at the start of the Conference on Freedom of Expression.

“On World Press Freedom Day, we salute courageous journalists and media workers across South Asia who work tirelessly every day to uphold press freedom at significant personal risk,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.

“There is a growing understanding in the developed, democratic world that a lack of press freedom is not only an issue in developing and non-democratic countries but (. . .) needs to be defended in mature democratic nations as well,” said WAN-IFRA.

The Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA) is one law that has been so effective in muzzling the traditional media that the federal government is reportedly considering expanding its scope to include new media.

Many governments, are trying hard to restore or fortify barriers to trace, block, target and censor those who champion the truth, ARTICLE 19 said.

AMARC calls upon states and governments, and press and audiovisual regulatory authorities to respect their commitments to press and audiovisual freedom of expression.

The Americas inched closer to becoming the most dangerous region in the world for journalists, with two countries – Mexico and Honduras – accounting for nearly a quarter of reporters killed in 2010, IPI said.

Thirty-eight heads of state and warlords sow terror among journalists, according to RSF.

During a ceremony marking Word Press Freedom Day, MADA’s chairman highlighted the major violations committed against journalists in 2010.

CPJ’s assessment of the 10 prevailing strategies for online oppression and the leading countries utilising such tactics shows that traditional mechanisms of repression have evolved into pervasive digital censorship.

The Philippine media situation has resisted change despite the change of administration in July, CMFR noted, adding that World Press Freedom Day is being commemorated after a year of global and national turmoil.

“The range of concerns being raised by journalists around the world shows press freedom still faces formidable challenges,” said IFJ.

“The duty of journalists as watchdogs of democracy requires national or European authorities to take their responsibilities for the enforcement of press freedom standards as fundamental rights,” IFJ said.

Threats, assaults, harassment and diverse types of pressure are part of a journalist’s daily life in South, East and Central Europe, IPI said.

The number of people worldwide with access to free and independent media declined to its lowest level in over a decade, according to the study “Freedom of the Press 2011: A Global Survey of Media Independence”.

“We have appreciated IFEX members’ condemnations of the Ethiopian government’s repressive measures against the organisation,” says EFJA President Kifle Mulat.