Paris, 6 September 2001
For immediate release

"Terrorism Against Media"

Journalists, newspaper executives and free press advocates from 22 countries will meet in Bilbao, Spain, next week to discuss and condemn violence against media in the Basque region. Participants in the "Terrorism Against the Media" conference will also hear testimony from journalists working in violent conditions in several other countries around the world.

The conference will give special focus to the escalation of attacks against the media in the Basque region by the ETA terrorist group and then examine violence in Algeria, Colombia, Indonesia, Israel and Northern Ireland.

"Violence against newspapers and journalists by groups who have nothing but contempt for the human right to free expression is a serious and apparently growing phenomenon," said Timothy Balding, Director General of the World Association of Newspapers. "The press itself needs to expose the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of ETA and similar organisations which try to influence information media and pursue their political agenda using bombs and bullets rather than arguments."

The Paris-based WAN and the World Editors Forum are organising the conference with the Spanish Newspaper Publishers Association (aede), supported by the Federation of Spanish Press Associations (FAPE). The event will be hosted by Grupo Correo at the Palacio Euskalduna on Friday, 14 September, preceded by a dinner on 13 September at the Guggenheim Museum.

(Late registrations are welcome there is no registration fee. For information and conference details, consult the WAN web site at www.wan-press.org or contact Julia Hewkin, WAN, 25 rue d'Astorg, 75008 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: [email protected])

Panellists working in the Basque region include: Gorka Landaburu, Cambio 16 magazine; Aurora Inchausti, El Pais; Juan Palomo, Antena 3 TV; Fernando Berridi, Diario Vasco; and José Javier Uranga, Diario de Navarra.
Panellists from other countries include: Omar Belhouchet, Chief Editor, El Watan, Algeria; Francisco Santos Calderon, Editor, El Tiempo, Colombia; Nurdin Hasan, Editor, Serambi Indonesia Daily; Hanoch Marmari, Editor in Chief, Ha'aretz, Israel; and Liam Clarke, Northern Ireland Correspondent, Sunday Times, United Kingdom.

The conference will feature a panel discussion on freedom of information in a democratic society and how to protect it, chaired by Paddy Woodworth, Assistant Foreign Desk of the Irish Times and author of "Dirty War, Clean Hands: ETA, the GAL and Spanish Democracy."

Panelists in this session include: José Antich Valero, Editor, La Vanguardia, Barcelona; Angel Arnedo Gil, Editor, El Correo, Bilbao; Antonio Franco Estadella, Editor, El Periodico de Catalunya, Barcelona; José Gabriel Mujika Migueliz, Editor, Diario Vasco, San Sebastian; Pedro J. Ramirez Codina, Editor, El Mundo, Madrid.

The keynote speech of the conference will be made by Francisco Pinto Balsemao, Former Prime Minister of Portugal, founder of the Social Democratic Party and founder of Expresso magazine.
WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 17,000 newspapers; its membership includes 67 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and eight regional and world-wide press groups.

The World Editors Forum is the division of WAN that represents senior news executives.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 25 rue d'Astorg, 75008 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: [email protected]

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Larry Kilman
Director of Communications
World Association of Newspapers
25, rue d'Astorg
75008 Paris France
Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00
Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48