Revised Windhoek Declaration Promotes Journalists Safety, Media’s Economic Viability And Internet Transparency
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Carol Guensburg, Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Gwen Lister co-chaired a 1991 journalism seminar in Windhoek, Namibia, whose participants produced an influential text calling for a free, independent and pluralistic press. The Windhoek Declaration led to World Press Freedom Day.
Thirty years ago, dozens of African journalists gathered at a conference in the then-new nation of Namibia to strategize how to better serve the public and minimize risks of their jobs.
“In Africa today … in many countries journalists, editors and publishers are victims of repression – they are murdered, arrested, detained and censored …” the journalists wrote in a document that denounced government controls and economic and political pressures.
virtual participants from 150+ countries
The Windhoek+30 Declaration takes forward the spirit of the original 1991 Windhoek Declaration, but makes reference to nowadays persistent and new challenges to media freedom such as risk of media extinction amid a “severe economic crisis” and disruption of traditional media business models; “increasing proliferation, amplification and promotion of […] disinformation and hate speech;” as well as “enduring and new threats to the safety of journalists and the free exercise of journalism, including killings, harassment of women, offline and online attacks”.
The Declaration also contains recommendations to take effective steps to nurture a diversity of viable public, private and community media, while safeguarding their independence. Furthermore, it calls on mainstreaming Media and Information Literacy, as well as to work on ensuring transparency of technological companies.
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The 2021 World Press Freedom Day Global Conference, hosted by UNESCO and the Government of Namibia, will be held on 29 April – 3 May in Windhoek. The event will bring leading minds of the world of journalism, media and technology as well as experts, policy makers, and activists, to affirm information is a public good and discuss how to support independent journalism and local news media.
Among first announced interventions are:
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and
Miranda Johnson,
The Economist’s Deputy Executive Editor, will engage in a dialogue on the role of information as a public good.
Seema Mustafa, senior award-winning journalist and founder of
The Citizen, India s first independent online newspaper . Mustafa is the president of India s Editor s Guild.
Rod Sims, Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Under his direction, the ACCC published a study that found internet companies benefitted from Australian news content without being able to seek appropriate compensation.
About the Conference
The five-day conference will comprise over 40 sessions and plenaries including three thematic ones discussing current issues on media viability, the transparency of online platforms, and strengthening media and information literacy capacities. [Register now here]
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