World Press Freedom Day

World Press Freedom Day will be commemorated on 3 May 2012 in Indonesia with the theme “Against Impunity – Put Killers of Journalists on Trial.”

When Congress re-convenes on 7 May it will be discussing a Freedom of Information (FOI) bill that, while not perfect, is generally acceptable to the media and civil society groups that have been working for the passage of an FOI act since the 1990s.

Even in so-called progressive countries like South Africa, MISA has witnessed deliberate assaults on journalists, media practitioners and media houses.

The resolution recognizes the role a free press plays within California and throughout the world in sustaining and monitoring democracy, contributing to greater accountability in government, and promoting civic participation and economic development.

“The majority of Mexican journalists have become war correspondents in their own country ever since President Felipe Calderón launched his war against drug trafficking and the battles spilled out into the streets,” says Turati.

In Somalia, a nation of ever-shifting fortunes, the first few months of 2012 have been particularly deadly for the media.

According to the report, for the first time in eight years, global media freedom did not experience an overall decline, while the Middle East and North Africa saw dramatic if precarious gains in press freedom in 2011.

“Instead of bowing to tyranny, I decided to stand brave and firm”, said this award-winning journalist.

WAN-IFRA has just added an interview with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman to the package of editorial and advertising materials it is offering to media worldwide to commemorate World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.

Attacks on journalists have escalated in the past six months despite the government’s commitment to adhere to international human rights principles, with 32 cases of attacks since the review by the UN Human Rights Council, says HRNJ-Uganda.

The report revealed increases in attacks on journalists in 2011, showing that the authorities are still not doing their job.

MADA identified a total of 206 violations of media freedoms, with the murder of Italian journalist Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza representing the most serious violation of the year.

“In a globalized information age, censorship is a transnational violation that must be emphatically countered,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

The organisation documented 107 cases of attacks on journalists in 2011, compared to 58 in 2010 and 38 in 2009.

Many democracies have allowed their ties with repressive allies to temper their support for human rights in the Arab Spring protests, according to the annual review of human rights practices around the globe.

As the scent of the Jasmine Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa drifted towards China, central authorities tightened restrictions on the press, and stepped up intimidation of journalists.