Thanks to the internet, satellite dishes and the "Al-Jazeera effect," media in the region are beginning to change, the journalists said at a seminar organised by the World Association of Newspapers to examine press freedom developments in the region.

The journalists came from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Jordan and Yemen to participate in the seminar, held on the eve of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.

"A number of countries have scrapped their Ministries of Information -- Bahrain and Jordan and maybe some others. The journalist unions in Egypt and Morocco have rebelled against the government’s choice for leadership. And the issue of censorship on the border has been eroded because of the creation of new media. The act of closing the border to the physical paper has been weakened by the fact that all the papers are on the internet," said Daoud Kuttab, Founder of AmmanNet in Jordan.

The impact of al-Jazeera and other satellite broadcasters on viewers expectations about what is "news" and how it should be presented is also causing change, he said.

Because of the Iraq war and the focus on terrorism, "freedom of the press in the Middle East and North Africa has become an international issue," said Said Essoulami, Director of the Centre for Media Freedom and chairman of the conference.

"Press Freedom is starting to emerge as a power in the region, media are starting to emerge as a power in the region," he said.

At the same time, "I think a good question is, ’which Arab reader is satisfied with the news they read? The answer is, none of them," he said.

Mr Kuttab put it another way: "Arab press is free to publish any news except news about the country they are in."

Many problems remain: a region of dictators that has no experience with democracy; a lack of infrastructure, resources and training for an independent press; government control and oversight; a lack of competition; an obsession with "consensus" issues, such as Palestinian rights, at the expense of local news; and repressive laws, censorship and self-censorship.

"There are many restrictions that make you think two, three, four times before you write anything, said Walid Al-Saqqaf, Publisher and Editor in Chief of the Yemen Times, who described a law that criminalises "writing anything that can cause discomfort."

"Imagine what it is like to work in this environment, if you have to worry whether your article will cause discomfort," he said. "If you write something that causes discomfort, you can be jailed the next day."

Mashallah Shamsolvaezin knows what it is like. The former editor of several reformist newspapers in Iran is now barred from working as a journalist in his country.

Since 1998, the Iranian judiciary has banned more than 120 newspapers and many journalists have been jailed after secret trials. Even so, says Mr Shamsolvaezin, "there is hope for the future."

"Year after year, we are witnessing developments in the press owing to the role played by the younger generation," he said. "Three hundred students graduate every year from journalism colleges, and there are professional organisations that are supporting the press."

"The number of weblogs in Iran has reached 18,000, compared with 830 in 2000," he said. "This is what I can state -- all this bodes well for the future of Iran, and it is a growing belief that the development of this ’fourth pillar of democracy’ will triumph against terror and all those who are against a free press in Iran."

Other participants included: Faheem Dashty, Editor in Chief of Kabul Weekly, Afghanistan; Saad Albazzaz, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Azzaman Daily Newspaper, Iraq; and Hazem Saghieh, Editor of the London-based Al-Hayat.

More than 1,300 publishers, chief editors, managing directors and other senior newspaper executives from 88 countries are in Istanbul for the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, from 30 May to 2 June. For more from the events, click here.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 13 news agencies and ten regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.