The conference will look at how new media is expanding press freedom -- and what repressive regimes are doing to restrict the free flow of information.

The event, organised by the World Press Freedom Committee, the World Association of Newspapers and UNESCO, will examine:

"New Media -- Expanding Press Freedom," an opening session with presentations by Koichiro Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO, Richard Winfield, Chairman of the World Press Freedom Committee, Timothy Balding, CEO of the World Association of Newspapers, Leslie Harris, Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Guy Berger, Head of the Journalism & Media Studies School of Rhodes University in South Africa, "New Media in New Democracies," which will present case studies and will feature Pauls Raudsept, Editor of the Editorial Page of the Diena daily in Latvia, Fabricio Altamirano, Publisher of El Diario de Hoy in El Salvador and Chairman of the Inter American Press Association’s Internet Committee, Levan Berdzenishvilli, a Member of Parliament and an Internet specialist from Georgia, Elizabeth Barrat, Executive Editor for Multimedia and Training at The Johannesburg Star and General Secretary of the African Editors Forum, and Albert Rudatsimbura Byron of Contact FM in Rwanda. The session will be chaired by Johann Fritz, Director of the International Press Institute.

"New Media Under Challenge," with presentations by Soe Myint of Burma, Editor of Mizzima online news service, Sharon Hom, Director of Human Rights in China, Karin Deutsch Karlekar, Managing Editor of the Freedom of the Press Survey at Freedom House, and Anton Nossik, President of the Rambler Search Portal in Russia. The session will be chaired by Abi Wright, Communications Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"Direct Satellite Broadcasting/Digital TV/Public Service Broadcasting - Opportunities for Diversity," which will feature Imad el Atrache of Al Jazeera, Saad Mohseni of Tolo TV in Afghanistan, Boris Bergant of RTV Slovenia, Jean Lesieur, Deputy Editor of France 24 international network, and Alfonso Ruiz de Assin, President of the International Association of Broadcasting. The session will be chaired by Henrikas Yushkiavitshus, Media Consultant and former Vice Chairman of Gostelradio in Russia.

"News Online," with Sankarshan Thakur, Executive Editor of the Tehelka online newspaper in India, Neil Budde, General Manager of Yahoo!, Rosental Alves, Director of the Knight Center for Journalism, Nora Paul, Director of the Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Minnesota in the United States, and Sawaan Zaidah, Editor-in-Chief of AmmanNet Radio in Jordan, and Monique Villa, Managing Director, of Reuters. Chair for the session will be Mogens Schmidt, Director of the UNESCO Division of Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace.

"How Young People Get Their News", which will feature Chris Schuepp, Coordinator, Young People’s Media Network, UNICEF, Roxana Morduchowicz, Director of Media Education, Argentinian Education Ministry, Evelyne Bevort, Associate Director of the Centre de Liaison de l’Enseignement et des Moyens d’Information in France, and Robert Barnard, Founder and Partner, of the Canadian research firm D-Code. Chair for the session will be Aralynn McMane, Director of Young Readership Development for WAN.

"Bloggers as Journalists/Local News and New Media/Citizen Media", which includes Oh Yeon-Ho, Founder of Ohmynews online newspaper in South Korea, Steve Yelvington, Vice President of Morris Digital Works in the United States, Karma Tshering Bhutia, Research Coordinator for Nepal Community Multimedia, Declan McCullagh, Senior Writer for CNET News.com in the United States, and Ehab Elzelaky, Blog Editor at the Al Dustour weekly in Egypt. The Chair will be Mary Lou Fulton, Vice President of Audience Development The Bakersfield Californian in the United States.

"Circumventing the Censors", with presentations by Gus Hosein, Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, Gerry Jackson, Founder and Station Manager of SW Radio Africa, Omar Faruk Osman, General Secretary of the National Union of Somali Journalists, and Leonard Sussman, Senior Scholar for Freedom House. The Chair will be Julien Pain, Head of the Internet Freedom desk, Reporters Without Borders.

The concluding session will include Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director, General for Communication, UNESCO, Gary Kebbel, Journalism Program Officer, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and William Orme, Policy Advisor,Independent Media Development, United Nations Development Programme.

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English and French.

The conference is supported by the World Editors Forum and the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, which includes, in addition to WAN and the WPFC:
  the Committee to Protect Journalists
  Commonwealth Press Union
  Inter American Press Association
  International Association of Broadcasting
  International Association of the Periodical Press (FIPP)
  International Press Institute
  North American Broadcasters Association
  and the World Press Freedom Committee

The conference was made possible by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

For more information, please click here