World press freedom day on May 3
LAHORE (May 02 2008): Pakistani journalists will join their fellow newsmen across the world to celebrate the world press freedom day on Saturday (May 3). To mark the day, rallies, seminars and other programmes have been chalked out by different journalist organisations.
In these functions, importance of freedom of media will be highlighted, while speakers will highlight the miseries the Pakistani journalists had to face due to restrictions imposed on media in the past.
Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, the day is celebrated each year on May 3 to mark the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper in 1991.
This declaration called for the establishment, maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press, and underlined the importance of a free press for the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation, and for economic development. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) co-ordinates activities each year on May 3 (World Press Freedom Day).
According the Unesco, it is a day of action to encourage and develop initiatives in favour of the freedom of the press, a day to assess the state of press freedom worldwide, a day to remind the governments to respect their commitments to press freedom, a day to alert the public and to increase awareness of the importance of freedom of the press, a day of reflection to encourage debate among media professionals on the issues of press freedom and professional ethics, a day of remembrance for journalists, who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession, and a day of support to media, which fall victim to any measures which restrain, or seek to abolish, freedom of the press.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:5/2/2008
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