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.