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Theme: "Reporting and Under-reporting: Who Decides?"
May 3rd is dedicated to World Press Freedom, a day to remember and stress
the importance of free press in a free society. Highlighting World Press
Freedom Day, the Committee on Information will dedicate its morning
session of work on 3 May to the Day with a two-part event. The opening
segment will begin at 10:00 a.m. with statements by:
Kofi Annan,
Secretary-General,
Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Chairman, United Nations
Committee on Information,
Viviane F. Launay, Director, UNESCO Liaison Office
in New York, and
Tony Jenkins, President, United Nations Correspondents
Association.
It will be followed at 10:50 a.m. with a panel discussion "Reporting
and Under-reporting: Who Decides?" with participants representing
the media, non-governmental organizations and the United Nations. They
will speak on the role and responsibilities of the world media in covering
global issues and examine whether it is perception of audience interest,
commercial considerations, lack of resources or other reasons that determine
editorial choices and the extent of news coverage.
The panel discussion will be moderated by Mr. Shashi Tharoor,
Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information (DPI),
and will feature:
Alexander Boraine, President, International Centre
for Transitional Justice,
Tony Jenkins, President, United Nations Correspondents
Association,
James H. Ottaway, Jr., Chairman, World Press Freedom
Committee,
E.R. Shipp, Prize-winning Columnist, The Daily News
(New York), and
Danilo Turk, Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations
Department of Political Affairs.
Webcast:
Lunchtime Film Screening:
There will be a lunchtime screening of Jonathan Demme's film "The
Agronomist" in the Dag Hammarkskjöld Library Auditorium
(12:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.). The film tells the story of a Haitian journalist,
Jean Dominique, who became a national hero for championing the cause
of Haiti's poor and powerless. As owner and operator of his nation's
first independent radio station, Radio Haiti-Inter, Dominique fought
tirelessly for press freedom and democracy. He was assassinated in April
2000.
This year, World Press Freedom Day will be celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia
Montenegro, where the central theme discussed will be "Support
to Media in Violent Conflict and in Countries in Transition".
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