Journalists to look into outlook for US-Latin America relations at IAPA meeting

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The General Assembly in Mexico will review the state of press freedom in the Americas


MIAMI, Florida (September 8, 2016)—The possible circumstances that Latin America will face following the presidential elections in the United States will be the topic to be debated by journalists of The Washington Post, LA Times, CNN and The Economist during the General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) in Mexico October 13-17.


The U.S. presidential elections in November are raising expectations concerning what will be the new relationships with the region under a government headed by Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. Journalists Marybeth Sheridan,The Washington Post, Kim Murphy, LA Times, and Michael Reid, The Economist, will reflect on the issue in a panel discussion moderated by fellow journalist Mario González of the CNN television channel.


Violence in its various manifestations and the lack of punishment of the aggressors represents in the Americas one of the main denunciations of violations of press freedom and tends to be an issue of great importance in the twice-yearly meetings of the IAPA, held to look into the state of freedom of the press in the countries of the Western Hemisphere.


In this regard the General Assembly in Mexico City has scheduled a special presentation titled "Lethal Censorship: How to Break the Cycle of Impunity and Violence in Mexico?" which will deal with what are the actions and the commitments that governments, media, journalists and institutions should take to put a brake on these serious threats in the country, where 114 journalists have been murdered since 2000.


Edgar Corzo Quinto, of Mexico's Human Rights Commission, along with Javier Horacio Contreras Orozco, of El Heraldo of Chihuahua and Víctor Murguía Velascoof of Mexico City's Mexican Editorial Organization, will be in charge of examining the issue and proposing alternatives, with as moderator journalist David Aponte of El Universal of Mexico City.


Also during the General Assembly and with the aim of dealing on an urgent basis with the constant denunciations by media and journalists in the Americas of murders, threats, attacks and other violations of press freedom there will be officially announced the creation of an alert system (IAPA Alert) that will operate on the IAPA's Web site.


This response mechanism seeks to call attention for action on the information placed on the organization's Web site to be disseminated in an automated and speedy manner on the Web sites and social media of IAPA news media members, and that the denunciations be given public follow-up.


For more details go to the program of the 72nd General Assembly whose venue will be Mexico City's Hilton Reforma Hotel.


The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.

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