World Press Freedom Day is celebrated on 3 May. It is a day to honour the individual journalists who have risked their lives in helping vindicate the right to a free press in their country. It is a day to celebrate progress made in securing recognition to the right to a free press, which is inextricably connected with other rights such as free speech and democratic governance. It is also a day to galvanize civil society to more actively form coalitions and apply needed pressure to support reform.
World Press Freedom Day is an especially important day in Africa inasmuch as the continent is still fighting to secure and strengthen freedom of the press. Journalists working in inimical climates continue to be repressed, harassed, tortured, and even killed. And unjust and ambiguous laws have been promulgated in many countries that hinder the development of a professional and representative press.
RAP 21 has taken the occasion of World Press Freedom Day to interview journalists and editors throughout the continent on issues facing the African press today in this special edition newsletter.
To find out more about World Press Freedom Day visit: http://www.worldpressfreedomday.org/
