Director of UNIC Rio (left) and the Minister of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic

On 6 May 2009, the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) office in Brazil and the School of Communication of the Federal University of Rio (ECO-UFRJ) organized a seminar entitled “What threatens press freedom? Who is threatened by the press?” as part of this year’s commemoration of World Press Freedom Day. During the event journalists, judges and lawyers had the opportunity to discuss issues such as judicial campaigns against news organizations, threats of censorship, and the rules of fair coverage. The audience of approximately 150 people was composed of students, faculty, journalists and lawyers.

The UNIC Rio Director welcomed the participants, remembering that press freedom is a basic human right, as stated in article XIX of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Copies of the Secretary-General's message for the day were distributed to the public.

The event was attended by the Minister of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic, Franklin Martins, who highlighted the importance of thinking about the issue carefully. He recognized that press freedom is a strong demand of Brazilian society, pointing out that media outlets were nourished by credibility and, therefore, they ought to respect the border between public and private. “Who defines the limits of the press is society itself, particularly because the most severe critics of journalism are the public, who will not allow themselves to be manipulated”, said Martins.

The first theme discussed was “From censorship to injunction: press freedom at risk” by Julio César Pompeu, Law Professor of the Federal University of the State of Espírito Santo. He emphasized that “the right to information belongs to the people, even if at times this assertion is appropriated by media companies.” The journalist of the daily /Folha de/ /S. Paulo/, Elvira Lobato, took part in the discussion by describing the types of censorship that still existed, and said she was responding to over 100 law suits on account of her investigative reporting about the business activities of a prominent Brazilian evangelical church.

During the second round of debates, “The Right of Reply: the challenges posed on information in Brazil”, the Regional Republic Prosecutor, André Carvalho Ramos, stressed the importance of rationally and carefully considering the limits of the press, which from now on, following a recent High Court decision, could only be questioned in the ambit of civil and/or criminal laws. He also criticized the lack of interest of the media in relation to the decision, which, in his opinion, jeopardized the understanding of the political process.

Parallel to this, the journalist and counselor of the Internet Management Committee, Gustavo Gindre, said the overload of information on the Internet was as troublesome as the lack of information. He advocated the need for regulation in communication media which should not be labeled as censorship. He also added that the major difficulty was how to regulate democratically what was produced on the Internet, considering that it was a transnational communication media. Court of Appeals Judge Siro Darlan moderated the seminar and discussed how the Judiciary Power saw the issues discussed among the two panels.

O Diretor do UNIC-RIo, Giancarlo Summa, e o Diretor de Comunicação e Informação da Unesco, Guilherme Canela

No dia 6 de maio 2009, o Seminário "O que ameaça a liberdade de imprensa? E quem a imprensa ameaça?”, marcou as comemorações pelo Dia Mundial Liberdade de Imprensa 2009. Durante o evento profissionais de jornalismo e de direito tiveram a oportunidade de debater assuntos como censura e a questão do direito de resposta com um público estimado de 200 pessoas.

O Coordenador de Comunicação e Informação das Nações Unidas para Educação, Ciência e Cultura (UNESCO), Guilherme Canela, abriu o evento destacando que “mesmo em democracias mais avançadas, como o Brasil, não podemos deixar de discutir a liberdade de imprensa, já que nessas nações os problemas de repressão são ainda mais sofisticados”.

O evento contou com a presença do Ministro da Secretaria de Comunicação Social da Presidência da República, Franklin Martins, que destacou a importância da reflexão sobre o tema e afirmou que a liberdade de imprensa é uma exigência da própria sociedade brasileira e lembrou que os veículos de comunicação vivem da credibilidade e precisam respeitar os limites entre público e privado. “Quem define o limite da imprensa é a própria sociedade. Até porque o crítico mais severo do jornalismo é o
próprio público e ele não admite ser manipulado”, disse.

A primeira mesa de discussão "Da censura à liminar: a liberdade de imprensa atacada", contou a presença do professor de Direito da Universidade do Espirito Santo, Júlio César Pompeu. Ele enfatizou que “o direito à informação é do povo, ainda que muitas vezes esse discurso seja apropriado por meios de comunicação”. A jornalista da Folha de São Paulo, Elvira Lobato, participou lembrando dos tipos de censura que existem ainda hoje, destacando os mais de 100 processos que vem respondendo na justiça por conta de uma matéria sobre a Igreja Universal.

Durante a segunda rodada de debates, “Direito de resposta: os desafios da informação no Brasil”, o Procurador Regional da República, André de Carvalho Ramos, destacou a importância de ver com atenção e de forma racional os limites da imprensa, que agora só podem ser questionados de acordo com o direito civil. Ele criticou ainda a falta de interesse da midia no desenrrolar das ações do judiciário, o que prejudica o entendimento do processo político.

Paralelo a isso, o jornalista e conselheiro do Comitê Gestor da Internet, Gustavo Gindre, disse que o volume de informações da internet é tão problemático como a falta de informação. Ele defendeu ainda a necessidade de uma regulamentação dos meios de comunicação, o que não significaria censura. Ele acrescentou também que a maior dificuldade é pensar como controlar o que é produzido na internet, já que se trata de um meio de comunicação transnacional.

Esse encontro aconteceu no Fórum de Ciência e Cultura da UFRJ e foi organizado pelo Centro de Informação das Nações Unidas para o Brasil (UNIC Rio de Janeiro), a Organização das Nações Unidas para Educação, Ciência e Cultura (UNESCO), a Escola de Comunicação da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (ECO/UFRJ) e pelo Encontro Internacional de Comunicação – Sudeste (Intercom).

Panelists at Concordia Award 2008 ceremony at Presseclub Concordia, Vienna

The Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna attended the ceremony for the presentation of the Concordia Award 2008 at Presseclub Concordia, Vienna, on 5 May 2009. The Director read the Secretary-General’s message for World Press Freedom Day to attendees.

Each year, the Presseclub Concordia recognizes print and multimedia accomplishments in the categories of human rights and press freedom. It also presents an award for lifetime achievement.

This year’s laureates were Austrian historian Prof. Erika Weinzierl (lifetime achievement), ORF (Austrian national television station) journalist Cornelia Vospernik (press freedom) for her reporting from China since 2007, and Mary Kreutzer and Corinna Milborn (human rights) for their book “Commodity Woman: On the trails of modern slavery from Africa to Europe.”

Past laureates include Czech President Vaclav Havel, Cardinal Franz König, former archbishop of Vienna, and George Tabori, Hungarian writer and theatre director.

Participants at seminar commemorating World Press Freedom Day

A seminar to commemorate World Press Freedom Day 2009 was held at the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Lagos on 4 May 2009.  It was jointly organised by UNIC Lagos and Media Rights Agenda (MRA), a media non-governmental organization (NGO) which is one of UNIC Lagos' partners.  It brought together scores of media owners, media managers, editors and other media professionals as well as representatives of civil society and other stakeholder groups to discuss the theme:  “The Role of the Media in Fostering Dialogue and Mutual Understanding between the Government and the People.”

It started with the UN Secretary-General’s message for the Day, in which he reiterated the central importance of the right to freedom of expression and the need to protect journalists and media outlets on the frontlines of exercising it.

Mr. Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, made opening remarks, which were followed by a keynote address by the chief guest, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, Special Adviser to President Umaru Yar’Adua on Communications.  In his speech, Mr. Adeniyi explored the theme of the conference. Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Coordinator of the International Press Centre (IPC) in Lagos, led the discussions on the presentation and on the freedom of the press.

The participants from the media thereafter discussed issues related to media practice and capacity in Nigeria, particularly the role of media in governance and development, key elements of effective media monitoring of government, independence, quality and reach of the media as well as the relationship among the government, the media and the people.

The conference ended with the adoption of a statement that encouraged the smooth two-way flow of information between the government and the people, transparency in governance as well as free access to information.

In the statement, participants acknowledged the need to improve their own knowledge about a wide range of issues to equip themselves to be able to correctly assess critical issues when they have dialogues with the government.   They also urged the media to take a broader view of government as against the present narrow approach which tends to focus excessively and disproportionately on the executive arm.  They called on the media to pay greater attention and scrutiny to other arms of the
government as well.

The statement stressed further that the government should provide appropriate funding and necessary infrastructure for the media establishments it has created to function efficiently and effectively.  It underlined the importance of ensuring information dissemination at the grassroots levels, especially in rural communities, as these sectors of society were often deprived of effective access to the media and critical information.

Furthermore, the participants emphasized the need to adopt new technologies in media practices, including upgrading the capacity of mass communication and journalism training institutions to provide training for students on the use and application of these new technologies.