(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 6 March 2006 WAN press release: Paris, 6 March 2006 Gebran Tueni Award to Honour Slain Publisher WAN has announced the creation of the Gebran Tueni Award, which will annually honour a newspaper publisher or editor in the Arab world who demonstrates the free press values upheld by the […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 6 March 2006 WAN press release:
Paris, 6 March 2006
Gebran Tueni Award to Honour Slain Publisher
WAN has announced the creation of the Gebran Tueni Award, which will annually honour a newspaper publisher or editor in the Arab world who demonstrates the free press values upheld by the WAN Board Member and Lebanese democracy advocate who was assassinated in Beirut in December.
As a permanent memorial to Mr Tueni, the award, which will carry a 10,000 Euros stipend for newspaper leadership training, will be given to an editor or publisher of an Arabic-language publication whose activity reflects a profound attachment to the freedom and independence of the press, courage, leadership, ambition and the search for high managerial and professional standards.
“Perhaps no one individual contributed as much to our work in the free press field as Gebran in the recent history of our organization,” said Timothy Balding, Chief Executive Officer of the Paris-based WAN.
“Gebran was a unique figure in WAN affairs for almost 20 years, as a leading member of our Press Freedom Committee, a Board member for more than a decade, a regular participant in missions to press freedom ‘hot spots’ and a constant adviser and support to the leadership of our organization on Arab and press freedom issues,” he said.
The award jury will consist of representatives of WAN and the Tueni family.
The 10,000 Euro stipend will enable the award winner to undertake advanced newspaper leadership training through the training institute of An-Nahar, Gebran Tueni’s newspaper in the Lebanon. Additional forms of support will also be given by WAN to the award laureate.
Announcing the award at a news conference at An-Nahar in Beirut, Mr Balding once more condemned the ‘cowardly’ killing of Gebran Tueni and called on Lebanese authorities to accelerate the investigation into his murder, “which in no circumstances can remain unpunished”.
An-Nahar and WAN also announced that they would jointly organize a conference in Beirut in September or October to draw attention to the threats against a free press in the Lebanon and elsewhere in the Arab world.
Called ‘Press Under Siege’, the event would be a continuation of a series of WAN ‘Media in Danger’ conferences focussing on countries or regions where violence against the press has become endemic. Three others have taken place: in Bogota, Colombia; in the Basque region of Spain; and in Kyrgyzstan, covering the Central Asian Republics.
The first Gebran Tueni Award will be given at the conference.
Mr Tueni, an outspoken supporter of Lebanese democracy, was killed by a massive car bomb on 12 December. Although he knew he was a high-priority target for the killers trying to undermine the political process in Lebanon, he chose to stay at the helm of his newspaper, which under his leadership was a beacon for independent journalism in the Arab world.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 73 national newspaper associations, newspapers and newspaper executives in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.
