The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum have called on Israeli authorities to immediately lift the Defense Ministry’s order banning foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip. The ban effectively prevents journalists from covering the ongoing military operations in Gaza and, to a certain extent, in southern Israel. More

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The World Association of Newspapers has condemned the absence of press freedom in much of the Arab world and has called on governments in North Africa, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf to end their repressive policies and release all imprisoned journalists, bloggers and freedom of expression advocates. More

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Najam Sethi, Editor-in-Chief of Friday Times and Daily Times in Pakistan, has been awarded the 2009 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers. More

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Attacks on journalists throughout the world -- by organised crime groups in Latin America, autocratic regimes in the Middle East, repressive governments in Africa and by combatants in war zones -- pose serious threats to press freedom, the World Association of Newspapers said Monday in it half-year review of press freedom world-wide. More

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Ibrahim Essa, Editor-in-Chief of Al Dustour, the daily newspaper in Egypt, has been awarded the 2008 Gebran Tueni Award, the annual prize of the World Association of Newspapers that honours an editor or publisher in the Arab region. More

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The World Association of Newspapers, in collaboration with Lebanon’s An-Nahar newspaper, is organising the 3rd Arab Free Press Forum in Beirut on 12 and 13 December next. The conference, which this year carries the title "Opposing Forces: The Independent Arab Press Defies Restrictive Governments", will provide an overview of the latest press developments in the Arab world, from obstructive government policies to case studies of newspapers that are succeeding in difficult environments. More

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The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) together with 36 other press freedom advocacy groups condemns the ongoing violations of press freedom in Egypt, and urges the authorities to drop all charges against journalists and reverse politically motivated prison sentences. More

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WAN along with 25 IFEX members expressed extreme concern over the serious violations of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Syria. More

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The World Association of Newspapers and 17 press freedom organisations wrote to French President Nicolas Sarkozy to express their “extreme concern” over “the Tunisian authorities’ tendency to resort to censorship, intimidation and violence.” More

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During the press freedom roundtable at the 61st World Newspaper Congress in Göteborg, Sweden, publishers, journalists, a cartoonist and human rights experts defended the right to offend audiences but also addressed its implications. Read our feature article and the roundtable proceedings. More

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Press freedom is under serious threat from many sources -- gangs and corrupt officials in Latin America, autocratic regimes in the Middle East, conflicts in Africa, hostile governments in Asia, and from death threats and prosecutions in central Asia and Europe, the World Association of Newspapers said in its half-year review of press freedom. More

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The theme of the World Press Freedom Day initiative is "The Olympic Challenge: Free the Press in China!" and the campaign is dedicated to holding Chinese authorities to the pledges they made in their successful Olympic bid to allow greater press freedom. More

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A Chinese journalist jailed for her reporting told a conference in Paris on 18 April that press freedom and human rights have worsened in China and that conditions for journalists in the run-up to the Olympics are "considerably more catastrophic" than they were when she was arrested 15 years ago. More

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The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum have protested to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, against a UN decision to investigate the "abuse" of freedom of expression where it constitutes "religious discrimination." More

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The World Association of Newspapers is asking newspapers world-wide to show their support for press freedom in China by publishing editorials, advertisements, political cartoons and other materials on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day. More

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The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have asked Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee, to call on Chinese authorities to honour their Olympic pledges to respect press freedom and the right of journalists to cover events. More

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What press freedom conditions can journalists and sports writers expect when they go to China to cover the 2008 Summer Olympics? An international conference designed to answer their questions, and to examine the methods that China uses to control the press, will be held in Paris next month. More

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The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum have protested to Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika against the jail sentences imposed against two leading journalists for a column criticising a local official. More

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Ninety-five journalists and other media workers were killed world-wide because of their professional activities in 2007, with Iraq and other conflict zones accounting for more than two-thirds of the deaths. More

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The World Association of Newspapers today welcomed the release from prison of Chinese journalist Li Changqing, the laureate of the 2008 WAN Golden Pen of Freedom, and called on Chinese authorities to release all imprisoned journalists before the Olympic Games in Beijing next summer. More

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The World Association of Newspapers today condemned serious press violations in six countries -- China, Somalia, Burma, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Georgia, and called on their governments to fully respect international standards of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. More

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The World Association of Newspapers, in collaboration with Lebanon’s An-Nahar newspaper, is organising the 2nd Arab Free Press Forum in Beirut on 9 and 10 December next. The conference, which this year carries the title "Fighting Back: Challenges and Opportunities for the Arab Press", will explore the efforts of Arab media to win their independence and freedom and the strategies they apply to combine this editorial independence with commercial success. More

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The World Association of Newspapers has launched a new web site to support the Declaration of Table Mountain, which calls on African nations to abolish all laws that restrict freedom of expression. More

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The World Association of Newspapers together with its fellow Tunisian Monitoring Group (TMG) members, condemns the court decision given on the 1st October to expel the officially acknowledged opposition party of the Tunisian ruling party, the Tunisian Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), and the PDP’s official newspaper Al-Mawkef from their premises. More

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The World Association of Newspapers has condemned the increasing harassment of journalists in the Palestinian Territories stemming from the conflict between the Fatah and Hamas factions. More

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The impact of new media on press freedom -- both positive and negative -- is the subject of a new report available from the World Association of Newspapers.

"New Media: The Press Freedom Dimension" includes discussions and recommendations from an international conference that took place in February in Paris. Speakers from more than 30 countries discussed topics ranging from citizen journalism and freedom of expression to Internet censorship. The conference was organised by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), WAN, the World Editors Forum and the World Press Freedom Committee, with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. More

WAN on 2 June formally adopted in Cape Town six resolutions addressing global concerns or specific cases of press freedom violations. To read the full text of the resolutions, click here

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The Declaration of Table Mountain on Abolishing “Insult Laws” in Africa and Setting Free Press Higher on the Agenda was adopted on 3 June 2007 by the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum in Cape Town, South Africa. The Declaration is an earnest appeal to all Africans to recognise that the political and economic progress they seek flourishes in a climate of freedom and where the press is free and independent of governmental, political or economic control. More

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To download the Arabic Version, click here

Declaration of Table Mountain in Arabic (Document PDF, 70.6 kb)

The fourth report on freedom of expression conditions in Tunisia issued by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) Tunisian Monitoring Group (TMG), to which WAN is party, states that: “lack of positive change has led us to conclude that the Tunisian government has sought to further stifle dissidents since the previous TMG report of May 2006."

To read WAN press release, click on:

Press Release (Document Word, 218.5 kb)	Communiqué (Document Word, 132.5 kb)
To read the full report, click on:
English Report (Document Word, 234.5 kb)	French Report (Document Word, 258.5 kb)

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The World Association of Newspapers has rejected a request by the China Newspaper Association to withdraw a prestigious press freedom prize that was awarded to journalist Shi Tao, who was imprisoned for writing about restrictions on the media in the run-up to the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The China Newspaper Association had protested to WAN against the decision to award the 2007 WAN Golden Pen of Freedom to Mr Shi, claiming that the Chinese court "handled the case according to law and made the appropriate sentence" and that the Chinese constitution protects press freedom. More

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The International News Safety Institute (INSI) presents the dramatic results of the world’s most comprehensive inquiry into the deaths of journalists over the last decade in a report called Killing The Messenger: The Deadly Price of News.

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The World Association of Newspapers has joined an international day of action calling for the release of Mohamed Abbou, a Tunisian lawyer and human rights activist, jailed for having exercised his freedom of expression. more

Never underestimate the power of the internet, even in countries on the wrong side of the digital divide.

Only 16 percent of the world’s population has internet access, says Rosental Alves, Director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. But that small percentage represents tens of millions of people, and the numbers are growing, offering opportunities for news dissemination, civic participation and democracy. More