World Press Freedom Day 2010
World Press Freedom Day (3 May) is an annual opportunity to affirm the importance of freedom of expression and press freedom – a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
3rd May was proclaimed World Press Freedom Day by the UN General Assembly in 1993. It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom – a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.
On this day, we take the opportunity to remember journalists and media professionals who lost their lives in the pursuit of their profession and to re-commit to the principal that every journalist, anywhere in the world, has the right to report freely and without fear.
Every year the UK National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC) partners with journalism and press freedom organisations to mark World Press Freedom Day in the UK. This year, activities hosted by the UKNC included:
- A high-level panel debate on the motion: "Unregulated political comment online helps the democratic process", organised by the UK National Commission for UNESCO and the Press Freedom Network, with the support of the Frontline Club and the BBC College of Journalism;
- a student journalism competition;
- a World Press Freedom Day lecture on 9th April featuring Martin Shipton, Chief Reporter, Western Mail, on the theme "New Threats to Press Freedom" hosted by the UK National Commission Wales Committee.
This year, UNESCO will celebrate World Press Freedom Day with an international conference of media professionals entitled Freedom of Information: the Right to Know, in Brisbane (Australia) on 2 and 3 May.
UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, explained this year’s theme, freedom of information saying it included the principle that organizations and governments have a duty to share or provide ready access to information they hold, to anyone who wants it, based on the public’s right to be informed.
Watch UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova’s speech in the sidebar.
She will also present this year’s annual UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Mónica González Mujica, a Chilean champion of investigative journalism. During the celebration, participants will observe a minute of silence in tribute to the great number of journalists who have paid with their lives for our right to know.
Written: 29/04/2010 , last modified: 29/04/2010
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UNESCO Director General's 2010 World Press Freedom Day remarks
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The speakers debate the motion 
Participants vote on the motion