World Press Freedom Day - its genesis
The
United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom
Day to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and
remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to
freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the
Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put
together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.
UNESCO
marks World Press Freedom Day by conferring the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano
World Press Freedom Prize on a deserving individual, organization or
institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence
and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when
this has been achieved in the face of danger.
UNESCO member states
Created in 1997, the prize is awarded on the recommendation of an
independent jury of 14 news professionals. Names are submitted by
regional and international non-governmental organizations working for
press freedom, and by UNESCO member states.
The Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian
journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his
newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogota, on December 17, 1986. Cano's
writings had offended Colombia's powerful drug barons.
Good governance
UNESCO also marks World Press Freedom Day each year by bringing
together media professionals, press freedom organizations and UN
agencies to assess the state of press freedom worldwide and discuss
solutions for addressing challenges. Each conference is centred around a
theme related to press freedom, including good governance, media
coverage of terrorism, impunity and the role of media in post-conflict
countries.
The 2011 World Press Freedom Day celebration is being held in
Washington, D.C., USA on May 1-3. This will be the first time the United
States has hosted the World Press Freedom Day celebration.
The theme of this year's event is ‘21st century Media: New Frontiers,
New Barriers’. The event will affirm fundamental principles of media
freedom in the digital age - the ability of citizens to voice their
opinions and access diverse, independent information sources - 20 years
after the original declaration was made in Windhoek, Namibia.
Courtesy: Wikipedia
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