MIAMI, Florida (November 15, 2013)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) will launch this weekend a mission to Brazil and Colombia with the aim of coordinating the work of member newspapers in support of the organization’s objectives and financial sustainability.
IAPA President Elizabeth Ballantine will head the high-level group that is to visit several cities in Brazil and Colombia November 17 to 21. Ballantine, director of the Durango Herald, Durango, Colorado, said that the mission’s objective “is to approach the leading newspapers of the Americas to reinforce the work that we carry out in defense of the principles of freedom of expression.”
She added that in addition “we have the aim of seeking financial sustainability to secure and develop the IAPA programs in the immediate future.”
In addition to Ballantine, the delegation will be made up of former president Edward Seaton, Seaton Newspapers, Manhattan, Kansas; and first vice president Gustavo Mohme, La República, Lima, Peru.
The group plans to meet with editors and publishers of the leading newspapers of Brazil and Colombia. Among these are O Estado de S. Paulo, Folha de S. Paulo, Editorial Abril and O Globo in Brazil, and El Tiempo, El Espectador, El Colombiano of Medellín and El Heraldo of Barranquilla in Colombia. It will also hold meetings with news organizations in the two countries.
This is the first mission that President Ballantine is heading and will later be replicated in other countries in the Americas. The initiative is aimed to achieve financial sustainability in order to strengthen and expand the key programs of the IAPA in the context of defense of freedom of expression and of the press in the Western Hemisphere.
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.
