May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, and Tidbits contributor Kim Pearson has forwarded a list of upcoming State Department sponsored Web chats being held all week to commemorate the occasion.
You can check the Co.Nx:See the World State Department page on Facebook to find links and invitations to each of the events. You can join a global audience in the chats by signing in as a guest.
A variety of government, non-governmental and media organizations have commemorated World Press Freedom Day since the U.N. General Assembly proclaimed the day in 1993.
As part of the events, UNESCO awards the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to “…a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defense and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, and especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.”
UNESCO established the award in 1997 to honor Guillermo Cano Isaza, editor of Columbia’s El Espectador. Cano Isaza, who crusaded against the drug cartels, was killed in a 1986 assassination that has never been prosecuted. This year’s award ceremony will take place in Doha, Qatar.
In addition to UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day 2009 events, the World Association of Newspapers organizes a World Press Freedom Day initiative. WAN provides editorial cartoons and “adverts” to spread word about World Press Freedom Day.
The International Press Institute features a clickable map tracking free press issues and events around the world. In addition, the World Press Freedom Committee provides a list of related events along with such features as the World Watch of Journalists in Prison.
