Media event to unite nations

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Tags: centenary-edition, journalism and communication

UQ will host the UNESCO World Press Freedom day in May

UQ has secured a first for the pacific region to host a global media freedom forum in May.

In a first for Australia and the Pacific, UQ has won the right to host UNESCO’s global World Press Freedom Day conference and Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize-giving ceremony in 2010.

Announcing UNESCO’s decision to stage the headline event in Brisbane last year, Director-General Koichiro Matsuura said his organisation was “proud to hold this ceremony in your wonderful country, and for the first time in the Pacific region”.

The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize honours a person, organisation or institution that has made an outstanding and courageous contribution to the defence and promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world.

To be held on May 3, the theme of World Press Freedom Day is “Freedom of Information: The Right to Know”, and UQ’s conference will focus particularly on freedom of expression issues in the Asia-Pacific region.

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield said UQ was proud to support UNESCO’s efforts to uphold and engender public accountability and media freedom.

“UNESCO is the only UN agency with a mandate to defend media freedom, and too often it has cause to condemn the deliberate killing of a journalist or journalists,” Professor Greenfield said.

“One of this conference’s purposes will be to honour reporters who were assassinated or harmed because they exposed or threatened to expose the truth.

“UQ educates journalism students who may one day work in places where their profession makes them targets, and we regard this conference as important for their safety as well as for the global flow of accurate information.”

As the University celebrates its Centenary in 2010, UQ’s journalism school also holds its own place in history as Australia’s oldest.

Professor Michael Bromley, Head of the School of Journalism and Communication, said he hoped the conference would also encourage a wider “fringe” program of activities in Brisbane to promote the importance of media freedom to the general public.

“Our school has been actively pursuing the World Press Freedom Day project for about 18 months. This is a high-level, global UN Day, and it will attract large numbers of delegates from all around the world,” Professor Bromley said.

Those wanting to keep up to date with World Press Freedom Day can visit the event website and subscribe to an e-newsletter.

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