DUSHANBE, May 3, 2011, Asia-Plus – An international three-day conference on the theme for World Press Freedom Day is concluding in Washington today.
The conference is organized by UNESCO, the U.S State Department and over 20 civil society partners. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is a leading sponsor of the event, which is also supported by private donations.
Being held at the Newseum, which is a museum devoted to the history of the press and to freedom of expression worldwide, the conference has focused on the increasing role of the internet, the emergence of new media and the dramatic rise in social networking.
Journalists from 40 countries across the world have been invited to attend the conference. Tajikistan is represented by Asia-Plus’s correspondent Ramziya Mirzobekova, who is author of a series of articles on access to justice in Tajikistan.
It is to be noted that Ramziya Mirzobekova has been given the award, “For Civil Position,” instituted by the Media Alliance of Tajikistan (MAT).
In the meantime, the democratic watchdog group, Freedom House, says press freedom worldwide has dropped to its lowest point in more than 10 years, with only one in six people now able to access free and independent media.
The report,
Freedom of the Press 2011: A Global Survey of Media Independence
, rated a total of 63 countries “not free” in 2010, including Tajikistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
Belarus, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Myanmar, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, and North Korea were named the Top 10 worst countries for free media.
The press is reportedly “partly free” in 65 countries, including Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Kosovo, Moldova, and Ukraine.
Of the 196 countries and territories assessed during 2010, just 68 were rated “free.”
