WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS 3 MAY

Press Release

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY TO BE OBSERVED AT HEADQUARTERS 3 MAY

World Press Freedom Day will be observed at Headquarters on Monday, 3 May 1999, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Conference Room 2, with an event organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) in cooperation with The Freedom Forum, an international non-governmental organization dedicated to freedom of the press, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Kensaku Hogen, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will open the meeting, followed by a videotaped message by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Thereafter, Robert Giles, Senior Vice- President, The Freedom Forum, and Executive Director, Media Studies Center, will make introductory remarks.

Stephen Rosenfeld, Deputy Editorial Page Editor and columnist, The Washington Post, will deliver the keynote address. Daljit Dhaliwal, Anchor, World News for Public Television, ITN, will moderate a panel on "Turbulent Eras: Generational Perspectives on Freedom of the Press". Panellists are: Eugenie Aw, journalist, Partnership Africa Canada; Cameron Duodu, columnist, The Johannesburg Mail and Guardian; Anthony Lewis, columnist, The New York Times; Susan Meiselas, photojournalist, Magnum Photos; Tomoyo Nonaka, former Anchor, NHK and TV-Tokyo, and currently Visiting Professor of Communications at Chukyo Women's University; and Sam Younger, former Managing Director of BBC World Service and currently Director General of the British Red Cross. The panel presentations will be followed by an open discussion with all participants.

World Press Freedom Day was established by General Assembly decision 48/432 of 20 December 1993, on a recommendation of the Economic and Social Council and as an outgrowth of the seminar on "Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press". This seminar, co-sponsored by DPI and UNESCO, took place in Windhoek, Namibia, in 1991 and resulted in the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration.

- 2 - Press Release Note No. 5558 28 April 1999

The Declaration states that "the establishment, maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press is essential to the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation, and for economic development". It defines an independent press as free "from governmental, political or economic control or from control of materials and infrastructure essential for the production and dissemination of newspapers, magazines, and periodicals". It further defines a pluralistic press as having no monopolies of any kind and "the greatest possible number of newspapers, magazines and periodicals reflecting the widest possible range of opinion within the community".

Accredited correspondents are invited to attend and participate in the open discussion. For further information, please call 963-6923; for media accreditation, 963-6934; for United Nations television coverage, 963-7650.

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