(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 30 May 2000 WAN press release: World Newspaper Congress Looks at Press Freedom Flashpoints Leading figures from the world’s press freedom flashpoints will gather to discuss their experiences and exchange ideas at a special seminar during the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, the annual meetings of the […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 30 May 2000 WAN press release:
World Newspaper Congress Looks at Press Freedom Flashpoints
Leading figures from the world’s press freedom flashpoints will gather to discuss their experiences and exchange ideas at a special seminar during the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, the annual meetings of the world’s press to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next month.
The Press Freedom Round Table will bring together press freedom advocates from a variety of cultures and situations: from Latin America, where more than 200 journalists have been killed since 1990; from Yugoslavia, where independent journalism is in grave danger of elimination; from East Timor, where newspapers are rebuilding after the devastation of war; and from Pakistan, where another coup has toppled fragile democracy.
Speakers at the meeting, organised on 11 June by the World Association of Newspapers as part of the 53rd World Newspaper Congress and 7th World Editors Forum (11-14 June), will include:
Tony Pederson, President of the Inter American Press Association and Senior Vice President and Executive Editor of The Houston Chronicle, together with Danilo Arbilla, First Vice President of IAPA and Editor of Busqueda in Uruguay, and Paulo Cabral, President of Correio Braziliense in Brazil. They will report on the IAPA’s ‘rapid response unit’ of investigative journalists who are looking into the unsolved murder of reporters.
Radomir Diklic, President of the Association of Private Media of Serbia and Chief Executive of the Beta News Agency, who will report on the press crisis in Yugoslavia, where authorities have greatly intensified their repression of private media.
Salvador J. Ximenes Soares, Editor in Chief of Suara Timor Timur, who will talk about rebuilding a newspaper in East Timor after the devastation of war.
Marilyn Greene, Executive Director of the World Press Freedom Committee, who will describe the organisation’s global campaign to eliminate ‘insult laws.’
Najam Sethi, Editor of the Friday Times and a leading voice for freedom of expression in Pakistan, who will talk about the continuing struggle for press freedom in his country.
More than 1,200 newspaper publishers and other senior executives are expected to attend the Brazil meetings. While the focus of the meetings is on newspaper business issues, press freedom is also a central component of the conferences.
The Congress takes the theme, “Reinventing the Newspaper Company: Strategies and Achievements,” while the Forum will cover a wide variety of issues of relevance to senior newsroom personnel.
For a full schedule of events, updates and registration information for the Congress and Forum, which will be opened by the Brazilian President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, consult the conference web site at: http://www.wan-press.org/congress.forum (in Portuguese at www.anj.org.br/congress.forum) or by contacting: cbanmeyer@wan.asso.fr.
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.
