Support world press freedom day as journalists fight to tell the truth

By, Angeline Nekesa

Today is world press freedom day, which was founded in order to raise awareness of the importance of press freedom - and to remind governments of their duty to respect it in theory and practice. In various events across globe, the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, and UNESCO's director-general Irina Bokova issued a joint message underlining the virtues of change in the Arab world. The statement said: 

"Newfound media freedom is promising to transform societies through greater transparency and accountability... Powerful new voices are rising – especially from young people – where they were silent before." 

They also pointed out that media freedom is also facing severe pressures across the world, with 62 journalists having been killed last year as a result of their work. 

"These journalists must not be forgotten and these crimes should not remain unpunished," they write. 

In Kenya the day was marked with an East African journalist’s convention which was opened by the Kenyan President. He encouraged journalists to demonstrate objectivity and balance in their news coverage. The president cited that, the convergence of press freedom and freedom of expression, through various traditional as well as new media, had given rise to an extraordinary level of media freedom, enabled citizens to bring about massive social and political transformations and further enabled the diffusion of vital information to reach a large number of people in a very short span of time. The convention aimed at understanding the best media laws and policies that would continue to protect media freedom, freedom of expression and access to information. 

In Liberia, A Mano River Union regional conference, to celebrate the World Press Freedom Day, took place in Monrovia, Liberia, sponsored by UNESCO, DANIDA, ICFJ and CFI (Canal France international) in collaboration with IREX, the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), the UN Peace Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and other local partners. 

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, officially open the conference in her role as the current Chair of the Mano River States Union. The conference attracted ministers responsible for information, media practitioners and journalists from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire and focused on the following themes: 

· Journalism, 

· Peace and Democracy: How to Use Media Freedom to Improve the Democratic Development of a Country, 

· Role of the Media in Transitional Environments, and 

· Fostering Accountability. 

There were special presentations on the importance of preserving media freedoms; promoting voices for peace in West Africa; the role of traditional and new media; women peacemakers and media; press freedom and media regulation in Africa; and creating an enabling environment for media in transition and accountability.