(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Download Now For World Press Freedom Day! Interviews with two Presidents who were once imprisoned for their opinions are among the editorial and advertising materials that the World Association of Newspapers is providing for use in media on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day. The interviews […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
Download Now For World Press Freedom Day!
Interviews with two Presidents who were once imprisoned for their opinions are among the editorial and advertising materials that the World Association of Newspapers is providing for use in media on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day.
The interviews with Vaclev Havel of the Czech Republic and Chen Sui-ban of Taiwan are in a package of essays, political cartoons, information and infographics on murdered and jailed journalists, and advertisements about press freedom that highlight widespread violations of the right to freedom of expression.
Terrorism and the risk to press freedom of preventive regulations and other information restrictions will also be given special focus in this year’s World Press Freedom Day campaign. The materials can be downloaded from the WAN website at http://www.wan-press.org/3may from 15 March in English, French, German and Spanish. Newspapers world-wide are being encouraged to print them on 3 May.
President Havel, who spent almost five years in prison under the former Communist regime, assesses the development of freedom of expression in Central and Eastern Europe.
“In the twelve years that have passed since the collapse of communism, we have experienced countless things that were entirely new and that nobody expected,” he says. “In some countries, the development has gone faster than anyone could predict; in other countries this process has gone along winding roads with many bypasses and surprises.”
President Chen, who served a jail sentence as the Director of the opposition magazine Formosa in the 1980s, talks about the prospects for freedom of expression and democracy on the Chinese mainland.
“It has been said that the Western values of democracy do not necessarily apply to Asian countries due to their different cultural background. In fact, this is a pretext of rulers who do not wish to be accountable to the people. Autocratic rule may bring temporary stability; however, after suppressing public opinion for a long time, such rule will result in more social turmoil and political instability,” he says.
Thousands of newspapers and magazines world-wide each year use the WAN materials in a variety of ways: from a simple quarter-page advertisement, to full page ads, to special sections and supplements dedicated to press freedom.
“World Press Freedom Day exists to recognise the sacrifices made in the struggle for freedom of the press and to put pressure on numerous governments that continue to deny their citizens this basic human right,” said Timothy Balding, Director General of WAN. “Journalists are often
uncomfortable about reporting on their own profession, but none of us in this business should forget that, first and foremost, freedom of the press is the freedom of the citizen, the reader, to receive uncensored information.”
The 3 May 2002 WAN/WEF package includes:
-Details of the killings of 58 journalists in 2001 and information on dozens of journalists currently being held in prison;
-Advertisements on press freedom themes;
-Essays and interviews on:
-Press freedom at risk in democracies in times of terrorism, by James Ottaway, President of the World Press Freedom Committee and Ron Koven, WPFC European representative,
-Working in the world’s most dangerous news environment, by Francisco Santos Calderon, the former Chief Editor of El Tiempo in Colombia, where dozens of reporters have been murdered in recent years,
-Nine years in prison for promoting democracy in Syria, a personal account by Nizar Nayouf, former Editor-in-Chief of Sawt al-Democratiyya (Democracy’s Voice) and Secretary-General of the Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedom in Syria,
-The difficulties of editing an independent newspaper in a country where press freedom is regularly violated, by Geoffrey Nyarota, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily News of Zimbabwe,
-The expectations - in many cases unfulfilled – for full press freedom in countries of Eastern and Central Europe, by Ioana Avadani, Director of the Association of Independent Journalists of Romania,
-Political cartoons against press freedom repression by Michel Cambon.
World Press Freedom Day marks the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of principles drawn up by African journalists calling for a free, independent and pluralistic media on that continent and throughout the world. This year marks the 11th anniversary of the Declaration, which affirms that a free press is essential to the existence of democracy and a fundamental human goal.
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 71 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 100 countries, 13 news agencies and seven regional and world-wide press groups.
The WEF is the division of WAN that represents senior news executives.
