Miami (October 10, 2011)—Peru’s President Ollanta Humala on Monday is to officially open the 67th General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) which is to be held October 14-18 in the Peruvian capital, Lima, and in which the state of freedom of the press in the Americas is to come under review.
During his election campaign the Peruvian president declared his full commitment to press freedom on attending as a guest a forum organized by the Peruvian Press Council (CPP) and the Press and Society Institute (IPYS).
“When I say media at the service of democracy it is an explicit message that we do not want dictatorships,” he said, adding, “I identify with the inalienable principle of freedom of expression.”
The IAPA meeting, one of two the organization holds each year, has as its principal mission evaluation of the state of freedom of the press in the region and drawing up plans of action.
On Friday the IAPA will open its event with a series of panel discussions and seminars focusing on advances in technology regarding the news industry, as well as hearing international speakers talk of matters related to the governance of the press and journalistic ethics.
On Sunday hundreds of publishers, editors and reporters will get together to review the state of press freedom in each country in the Western Hemisphere, alarmed by laws and government regulations that affect the practice of journalism, and by the increase in violence unleashed against news media and the high number of crimes against journalists in Latin America so far this year.
For more details about the IAPA General Assembly, go to http://sip-asambleas.org/2/home.php.
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; http://www.impunidad.com.
