Highlights
Each year UNESCO organizes conferences centered on a theme related to press freedom.
New Delhi: The World Press Freedom Day is observed on May 3 of every year and is marked to celebrate the freedom of the press. The World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the United Nation General Assembly in 1993.
Every year, UNESCO organizes a conference to discuss the condition of press freedom worldwide with media professionals across the globe. In 2020, the theme for the conference was Journalism without Fear or Favour .
UNESCO observes the day by honoring a deserving individual, organization or institution with UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for making an outstanding contribution to the defence or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially if the freedom was achieved in unfavourable circumstances.
Good News Pilipinas
United Nations spotlights Philippines on World Press Freedom Day
Rappler’s Maria Ressa has named the World Press Freedom Prize laureate for 2021. Screengrabs from UNESCO event via Rappler.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has put the spotlight on the Philippines on World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) 2021.
The 2021 Global Conference hosted by UNESCO and the Government of Namibia, carrying the theme of “Information as a Public Good”, marked the eve of World Press Freedom Day on May 3 by awarding the UNESCO/ Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Filipino investigative journalist Maria Ressa who spoke about the state of democracy and journalism in the Philippines.
Graphic Online
BY: Rosalind K. Amoh
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An awards ceremony and adoption of a communique will climax this year’s global commemoration of World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) in Windhoek, Namibia, today.
The climax follows six days of deliberations by journalists representing various countries and other stakeholders who have convened in the Namibian capital to commemorate this year’s event and also mark the 30th anniversary of the WPFD.
To be known as the Windhoek + 30 Declaration, the Global Conference, in adopting the communique, will call for an urgent need to address the threat of extinction faced by local news media around the world, a crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On World Press Freedom Day 2021, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the #HoldTheLine coalition have launched an innovative campaign of solidarity with journalist Maria Ressa, who faces a possible lifetime in prison in the Philippines. A new website (www.holdthelineformariaressa.com) features hundreds of videos from prominent supporters around the world - with a call for public contributions - that will stream on a continuous loop until all charges are dropped against Ressa and the media outlet Rappler.
In an unprecedented coordinated campaign action launched by RSF and the #HoldTheLine coalition, hundreds of supporters have submitted videos in support of Maria Ressa, the founder and CEO of online media outlet Rappler, whose courageous journalism and stand for press freedom in the Philippines earned her a spot as