*EPF310 05/03/00
Slain Journalists Honored at World Press Freedom Day Ceremony
(At Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial) (750)
By David Pitts
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The names of 40 journalists from around the world who died in the line of duty during 1999 were read aloud at a solemn ceremony May 3 commemorating World Press Freedom Day. The event, attended by reporters and editors from major newspapers and broadcast networks, took place at the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial.

The names of the 40 journalists, together with the names of 292 others not identified through original research, will be added to 1,369 other names already on the memorial -- all journalists who died, many of them murdered, while covering the news. The first name on the wall is an American -- a Revolutionary War hero who was beaten to death by an angry mob that opposed his journalistic stance against the War of 1812. The nationalities of the others who share their place of honor alongside him, span the globe.

"It's important to pay our respects to journalists, past and present, who take great risks to present the news throughout the world," said Tom Johnson, chairman and CEO of CNN. In addition to honoring those who died, he said it also is important to remember "the countless others who are suffering emotional and psychological damage, including depression" as a result of reporting stories under trying circumstances.

In addition to honoring the commitment and courage of individual journalists, Johnson commended the efforts of organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) based in New York, the International Press Institute (IPI) based in Vienna, Austria, and Freedom Forum that work to document risks to journalists and to promote a worldwide free press.

Just yesterday, another organization, Reporters Without Borders, put the number of journalists killed in 1999 at 36, which it said was double the 1998 total. An estimated 100 are in jail for speaking out against or publishing stories critical of government, it added. "The aggravation in journalist killings is mainly due to armed conflicts," the group reported. "From Sierra Leone to Kosovo, via Timor and Chechnya, journalists have been targeted," it said.

The purpose of World Press Freedom Day is to draw public attention to statistics such as these and to the kind of democratic public institutions that can help nurture a free press. One group, the World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), based in Virginia, works to gain adherence from governments around the world to its 10-point Charter for A Free Press. The principles of the WPFC Charter, which deal specifically with relations between media and government, are:

-- No censorship
-- No ban on independent media
-- No discrimination by government against specific media companies
-- No restrictions on access to newsprint, printing facilities, and distribution systems
-- No barriers placed by governmental communications authorities that would inhibit news distribution
-- No restrictions on editorial independence
-- No prohibitions on in-country news organizations obtaining news from external sources
-- No constraints on foreign journalists entering countries to cover the news.
-- No special licensing procedures designed to restrict who can become journalists
-- No special provisions that would deny journalists the full protection of the law.

The Charter For A Free Press was approved by journalists from 34 countries at a WFPC conference held in London, England in 1987. The conference was co-sponsored by many other groups committed to a free press.

The secretary-general of the U.N. and the director-general of UNESCO who said that the Charter "carries forward the guidance from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights that guarantees freedom of the press" also have endorsed the Charter. The Universal Declaration stipulates: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression."

World Press Freedom Day was initiated by UNESCO in commemoration of the Windhoek Declaration, which was adopted May 3, 1991. The Declaration was written in by African publishers, editors and journalists to assert the crucial role of a free press in Africa and throughout the world. It called on governments everywhere to guarantee freedom of the press.

The Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial was established five years later -- in 1996. Since then, ceremonies have been held each year on World Press Freedom Day. The names of journalists who lost their lives in the cause of their profession are added to the names of those already there.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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