The United Nations marked World Press Freedom Day 2004 on 3 May against the backdrop of the dangers journalists faced in reporting from areas of conflict. In his opening address, Secretary-General Kofi Annan remarked that it is first and foremost a day which we remember and pay tribute to journalists who were killed in the line of duty. Noting the emphasis given by the press to selective coverage of issues, he also said that this frustration was by no means confined to the media, adding that Member States also were selective in their approach: “Member States often pay undue attention to some issues and little to others of equal or even surpassing concern. Likewise, it can be maddening to see donors funding projects that might be popular back home but are not all among the most urgent priorities in the country receiving the aid.”
The UN Department of Public Information (DPI) timed the release of its list of "ten stories the world should know more about" to coincide with World Press Freedom Day. The ten underreported stories include the political situation in the Central African Republic and Tajikistan, child soldiers in Uganda, the threat to biodiversity due to overfishing, AIDS orphans in sub-Saharan Africa and a milestone international accord on the rights of persons with disabilities. Among the speakers commemorating the occasion were: Ambassador Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury of Bangladesh, Chairman of the UN Committee on Information; Viviane Launay, Director of the UNESCO Liaison Office in New York; and Tony Jenkins, President of the UN Correspondents Association (UNCA).
Ambassador Chowdhury stressed that freedom of the press was a fundamental human right and that the Day served as a reminder to Member States to uphold the rights of journalists. He also said that society would be better equipped to fight evils where press freedom flourished, reminding Governments that press freedom was neither a gift nor a political concession.
A panel discussion on “Reporting and Under-reporting: Who Decides?” was moderated by United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Shashi Tharoor, who said that “the world is full of stories that won’t make the cut”. The panel comprised Alexander Boraine, President of the International Centre for Transitional Justice; James H. Ottaway Jr., Chairman, World Press Freedom Committee; E.R. Shipp, Pulitzer-prize winning columnist with The Daily News; Danilo Turk, Assistant-Secretary-General of the UN Department of Political Affairs and Tony Jenkins of UNCA.
Mr. Boraine, who had also served the deputy Chair of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said that the extent and choice of reporting depended on the questions on how much the news organization could afford and spend. He added that freedom of the press is “never ever secure but must be fought for in every generation”. In the context of the UNESCO theme for World Press Freedom Day, “Support to Media in Violent Conflict and in Countries in Transition”, he said that editors should focus on the remarkable courage of people living in different situations, especially women living in countries wracked by terror and war. “What’s taking place in post-conflict situations? Events there could be used as models for other times; but they are not known because of underreporting.”
Mr. Ottaway said that one of the most powerful deciding forces that was difficult to change was human nature. “No one wants to be criticized. “It leads to cover-ups, positive spins, whether in a democracy, theocracy, authoritarian or communist rule. Pride, human desire to hold on to positions decide what information reporters can dig up from news sources”, he said, adding that “roughly 60 per cent of UN Member States ignores its own constitutional provisions of press freedom”.
While Mr. Turk said that there was an “imbalance between news and entertainment due to domination of the entertainment media”, and that it was “wrong to see news as entertainment”, Ms. Shipp said that “those of us charged with looking for stories must not be stopped by that. Journalists have to become more creative to get stories into the media.”
Mr. Jenkins said that journalists, by exercising their craft, were “protecting all other civil rights. There is no question of the news business being driven by profit. The bottom line in media business is an annual profit of 25 per cent. According to Mr. Ottaway, fear of death and bodily harm was the next most deciding force in what got reported. “[Journalism] is the next dangerous profession in the world after the military.”
—As Reported by Vikram Sura, for the Chronicle
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