The terrible events in the United States on 11 September 2001 has made this Terrorism Against the Media conference, which had been planned before the terrorist attack, more significant, said Mr Balding.

"Terrorism has this week become an even more important phenomenon to analyse, discuss and denounce, as the world becomes fully and irreversably aware of the terrible ends to which it can lead," he said. "We believe that in these tragic days of new and unprecedented terror against humanity, it is more urgent than ever to understand, to stand resolute against, and to condemn every single violation of the fundamental, democratic principless which governs the civilised world."

It is no accident, he said, that regimes that host, support and finance terrorists are enemies of press freedom. "Terrorism thrives in obscurity, in the dark, hidden from and untroubled by the bright light which free media would shine on it," said Mr Balding. "And this is why protecting and cherishing freedom of the media, here in the Basque region or anywhere else in the world where it is threatened, attacked or withheld, must be a priority for all of us in democratic nations."