110 journalists killed in 2007: WAN Congress Reports

Goteborg, June 4, 2008: The 61^st World Newspapers Association Congress and the 15^th World Editors Forum have successfully concluded in the Swedish City of Goteborg with an upbeat report on the future of world press.

Presenting the World Trends in the Newspaper Industry: An Update, the Chief Executive Officer of WAN, Mr. Timothy Balding said that contrary to persistent reports of the imminent demise of the newspaper, the industry was still in a state of vibrancy.

According to the report, the world newspaper industry experienced an overall growth of about 2.5 percent over the past year.

Performing the opening ceremony, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden said that while a free press is a necessity, it must be tampered with a level of responsibility.

He noted that WAN is the global guardian of press freedom and must continue in its advocacy work on behalf of the world’s media. He said that Sweden’s long history of press freedom, stretching as far back as 1766, when the Scandinavian country first enacted laws for the protection of press freedom, would continue.

Also speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. Gavin O’Reilly, President of the WAN extolled Sweden for its continued support to issues of free press, stating that the Nordic nation is an ideal example of press freedom around the world, although there was nowhere on earth that total press freedom existed.

Mr. O’Reilly went on to state that the picture of press freedom in the world since January 2007 remains of serious concern to WAN. He noted that there were some 110 journalists killed in the line of duty, more than 1000 arrested, while about 100 are still been held in detention.

For his part the Chairman of the Swedish Newspaper Association enjoined media practitioners to make global warming an issue of importance in the coming year.

Mr. Tomas Brunegard noted that the climate was in real danger if governments are not spurred into actions to avert the looming disaster.

During the opening event, Mr. George Brock, President of the World Editors Forum presented the 2008 Golden Pen of Freedom Award to jailed Chinese Journalist Li Changqing, the Deputy Director of Fuzgou Daily in China.

Neither Mr. Li nor his wife was able to attend the presentation ceremony because they were allegedly prevented by Chinese authorities and was thus deputized by fellow dissent Chinese journalist Gi Yu herself a Golden Pen Laureate in 2006.

Mr. Li was given the award for a story he broke on an outbreak of the deadly dengue fever disease in China a few years ago, when officials in the area were denying the outbreak. He was subsequently arrested and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

In another development, the US based International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) conference on Financial Sustainability of independent media training institutions around the world was concluded on Wednesday, June 4.

The ICFJ program was held on the sidelines of the WAN and WEF activities and brought together over 50 participants from various media training institutions around the world.

The Liberia Media Center participant at the conference, Mr. Lamii Kpargoi says the gathering was a very useful opportunity of sharing experiences and establishing relationships with other training organizations around the world.

Mr. Kpargoi indicated that the issues discussed on essential internet tools, the use of digital resources, models for sustainable successes, in the work of the media were extremely useful.

Meanwhile the ICFJ, as a means of ensuring the success of its mentor/mentee relationship has established a secure website through which the participants of the conference can continue their involvement and resource sharing over the next year.

In another development, the ICFJ has announced that Belarus editor and free-press champion Aliaksei Karol and Ugandan human rights reporter Frank Nyakairu are the winners its 2008 Knight International Journalism Award.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Knight International Journalism Awards, given by the Knight International Journalism Fellowships program. The Fellowships are designed to create lasting, tangible improvements in the way journalism is practiced around the world. The program is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The International Center for Journalists, a non-profit, professional organization, promotes quality journalism worldwide in the belief that independent, vigorous media are crucial in improving the human condition.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950 the foundation has granted nearly $400 million to advance journalism quality and the freedom of expression. Knight Foundation supports ideas and projects that create transformational change.