Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Colleagues,
It is my privilege to welcome you to this 3rd Arab Free Press Forum, which annually brings together publishers, editors, journalists and press freedom advocates from across North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf, invited by the World Association of Newspapers, in partnership with the Lebanese daily An-Nahar. This year the Forum is held in conjunction with the bi-annual Board meeting of WAN and I am pleased that you and many of my Board members will have an opportunity to meet each other over the next two days. The Arab press, to our great regret, is virtually absent from the governing structures of WAN, which is the truly representative association of the leaders of the press throughout the democratic world. This absence is a great regret to us and I would like to think that it is to you too. Let’s try together to change this situation.
In welcoming you here in Beirut, I want to inform you about the absence of four participants:
Airport police in Tunis on Wednesday prevented the journalist Litfi Hidouri and human rights lawyer and writer Mohamed Abbou from boarding a plane to Beirut. Mr Hidouri was detained and held by police overnight, before being released yesterday. Mr Abbou was allowed to return home.
Mr Abbou and Mr Hidouri was scheduled to participate in a panel that will examine the increasing censorship and harassment facing civil society activists in Tunisia.
The Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan, who was scheduled to speak here on a panel examining the changing face of Arab blogging, was prevented from boarding his flight on Wednesday. He had recently been released from prison; now he learns that he is not free to travel.
Mazen Darwish, Director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, was also prevented from leaving his country. It was the second time he has been stopped from attending this Forum.
WAN has vigorously protested these incidents. In the meantime, we can at least thank the authorities of Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Syria for this eloquent and timely demonstration of their contempt for, and fear of, free expression, as we open this Forum.
Our ambition here is to review and debate the latest and most significant press developments in the Arab world. We shall, of course, discuss extensively the press freedom situation, but this year have given added emphasis to the editorial and business challenges and opportunities facing the press, for without a viable and sustainable economic model, no media company can play its proper role as a counter-weight to power and an opponent to the abuse of power.
In the course of today and tomorrow, our speakers will highlight the tactics and strategies used by governments and the judiciary to impede and sanction the independent press, address the rising political relevance and influence of blogs, discuss editorial policies, trends and innovations in newsrooms, and finally look into the prospects and strategies for the business of news publishing in the region. A panel will specifically address the increased censorship and harassment facing journalists and civil society activists in Tunisia.
Governments throughout this region continue to resort to harassment, censorship, prosecution, fining and imprisonment of news media professionals in order to control information. The hostility toward independent and opposition media and critical voices continues to rise and the repression against these voices can be ruthless.
In most of the region, those who dare to investigate government failures or wrongdoings, challenge untenable policies and call for reforms, or express dissenting opinions, face charges of criminal defamation, blasphemy or endangering national security and are regularly sentenced to large fines and imprisonment.
Many of you present today have faced such charges with severe consequences over the years and I wish to applaud your determination to carry on writing, publishing and advocating a free press, despite continuing pressures, hardships, threats and sanctions of all kinds.
I also wish to acknowledge the commitment of publishers and journalists throughout the region to innovate and develop their news organisations in challenging local markets and in times that are demanding for the press industry the world across.
If there is any consolation to be gained from the rising tide of repression in this region, I like to think it is evidence of a growing fear in the minds of the tyrants that your message of hope and freedom is gaining momentum and impact.
We most probably wouldn’t be here today at this particular gathering if it were not for a tragedy - the savage murder three years ago today, in Beirut, of Gebran Tueni, then publisher of our hosts An-Nahar, and a WAN Board member for more than ten years, who worked tirelessly to advance the interests of a free and independent Arab press, opposed with his pen, his voice and his will the tyrants in this region, and paid the greatest price. Tomorrow afternoon we shall together commemorate this very sad anniversary and I count on all of you to join us in that act of remembrance.
In the meantime, I would like to express my gratitude and friendship to the Tueni family and all our colleagues from An-Nahar, who have played an essential role in this event, and in particular to Nayla Tueni, who has taken up the flame and the mission of her father.
Finally, I would like to thank the Open Society Institute and UNESCO for their support.
Thank you, |
