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Week ending May 1, 2010

BBC World Service marks World Press Freedom Day - April 30, 2010
from Laura Brander/BBC WS

London, Friday 30 April, 2010. On a daily basis, journalists throughout the world risk their lives to bring people the latest news. BBC World Service will be marking World Press Freedom Day, which takes place on Monday 3 May, with a range of programming around press freedom, the safety of journalists and impunity. Content will explore the issues associated with working in areas of conflict, journalist security, corruption and investigative journalism.

Peter Horrocks, Director, BBC Global News, says: "Spanning the last decade, two journalists on average are killed every week, attempting to deliver untold stories and crucial news to people around the world. This is just the tip of a range of intimidating activities against journalists and news organisations, such as hi-tech jamming of satellite television news services by countries like Iran. Our audiences have clearly demonstrated that they place a high value on impartial news, information and debate. A free and open media is imperative to ensure the survival and diversity of quality international news. In support of this, the BBC's international news services are choosing to mark World Press Freedom Day, with content that aims to highlight the importance of global press freedom for audiences everywhere."

English Network

Highlights on the English language network are expected to include an interview with Roxana Saberi, the American journalist who was imprisoned and accused of spying in Iran in 2009, an overview of the Reporters without Borders annual report on press freedom, and a co-production interview with Robert Mukombozi, the Rwandan journalist in exile in Australia, from The World Today and Network Africa.

BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Paul Adams reports on the impact of online journalism, questioning whether we have passed through the golden age of a free press. Are we heading for a glorified ‘blogocracy’ where there is plenty of opinion but not enough money to fund the journalism which holds governments to account? Additionally, online, Vincent Dowd will provide a history of signal blocking.

Language Services

BBC Hausa, BBC Swahili, and BBC para Africa (Portuguese for Africa) will be exploring the state of press freedom in Nigeria, Rwanda and Angola respectively, while the French for Africa service, BBC Afrique, looks to the future of the media in Benin and at its successes.

BBC Persian will be taking into account the state of press freedom in Iran and how it has changed since the presidential election. The radio service will offer a discussion programme looking at the global ramifications of press freedom in Iran, the Middle East and across the world. BBC Persian TV will broadcast an episode of HARDtalk featuring an interview with an Iranian state TV and radio journalist, Reza Valizadeh. He left the country five months ago after the post election unrest and talks to presenter Enayat Fani about the increasing pressures on journalism in the post election period. Critically acclaimed BBC interactive programme, Nobat-e Shoma (Your Turn) will lead an online debate and a live televised programme discussing the impact of constraints on the Iranian media and the wider region.

BBC Pashto will present an overview of the media panorama in Afghanistan which now includes more than 500 media outlets. Additionally, it will be documenting the difficulties faced by female journalists in the country, as well as a discussion with the Head of the Afghan Journalists’ Association, Rahimullah Samandar, on press freedom.

BBC Chinese will have a web forum with an audience participating in a debate on press freedom and restrictions in China, and will explore the issues brought about by proliferation of media there.

BBC Serbian will look at the unresolved cases of some journalists who disappeared during the Milosevic era, and will be trying to shed some light on their fate.

Finally, BBC Uzbek will be running audio postcards from reporters on the ground, talking about practicalities and difficulties of reporting on Uzbekistan. An interview will also be broadcast with William Horsley, Chairman of the Centre for Freedom of the Media.

WAN-IFRA - Still Time To Commemorate World Press Freedom Day - April 29, 2010
from Larry Kilman/WAN-IFRA

Thousands of newspapers world-wide will commemorate World Press Freedom Day on Monday, 3 May, by publishing editorial and advertising materials on press freedom themes from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). There is still time to join them.

WAN-IFRA has made available essays, opinion pieces, interviews, infographics, editorial cartoons, photographs, advertisements and more for publication on or around 3 May, and has just added protest letters that readers can send to governments in countries were intimidation and attacks on journalists are widespread. The materials are available, free of charge, at http://www.worldpressfreedomday.org

The package, which focuses on the theme, "Journalists in Exile," is available in English, French, Spanish, German and Russian.

The new protest letters can be signed and sent to the leaders of Iran, Mexico, the Philippines, China and Sri Lanka, calling for an end to attacks and other forms of intimidation against journalists. They can be found at http://www.wan-press.org/3may/2010/sendprotest.php?id=1221

World Press Freedom Day marks the anniversary of the 1991 Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of principles calling for a free, independent and pluralistic media throughout the world. The Declaration affirms that a free press is essential to the existence of democracy and a fundamental human goal.

It has become a day to raise awareness of press freedom problems worldwide, and to recognise the sacrifices that independent media and journalists make to keep their societies informed.