The opening ceremony, on Thursday afternoon, October 16, will be attended by the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, and the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, Laura Gil.
Miami (October 13, 2025) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) announces that there are only few days left until the inauguration of its 81st General Assembly, which will take place from October 16 to 19 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Editors, journalists, and media executives from across the Americas will gather to discuss the challenges facing journalism, with a special focus on press freedom, media sustainability, and the impact of artificial intelligence.
The opening ceremony, on the afternoon of Thursday, October 16, will feature the participation of Luis Abinader, President of the Dominican Republic, and Laura Gil, Deputy Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), alongside José Roberto Dutriz, IAPA President and CEO of La Prensa Gráfica of El Salvador. The Westin Punta Cana will be the host hotel for the meeting.
The event will begin with a special presentation by acclaimed journalist Jon Lee Anderson, of The New Yorker, in conversation with Gabriela Vivanco, Chair of the IAPA’s Executive Committee and Director of La Hora in Ecuador.
The program is available at this link.
Over the course of four days, reports on the state of press freedom in 24 countries of the region will be presented and debated, along with panels and workshops on innovation, digital transformation, business models, and the role of the press in democracy.
One of the central themes will be a dialogue on artificial intelligence in newsrooms, led by Rosental Calmon Alves, Director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, in conversation with Carlos Jornet, IAPA Second Vice President and editor at La Voz del Interior (Argentina).
In addition, the Google News Initiative and the IAPA will present the results of their revenue and monetization labs, along with practical workshops on AI applications for journalism.
The academic program will also include an opinion journalism workshop and a panel on collaborative investigative journalism, led by Boris Muñoz, founder of the opinion section of The New York Times en Español.
Other discussions will focus on the resilience of exiled journalists and the democratic value of local journalism in the United States, with the participation of noted journalists Carlos Fernando Chamorro (Confidencial, Nicaragua) and Luz Mely Reyes (Efecto Cocuyo, Venezuela), as well as on the importance of building more gender-inclusive media environments.
Among the most relevant highlights will be a panel on the advance of authoritarianism, featuring Pedro Vaca, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), alongside other distinguished experts.
One of the most anticipated sessions will be the panel on sustainability and the future of the industry, with contributions from Paul Deegan, CEO of News Media Canada, and Martín Etchevers, IAPA Board Member and executive at Grupo Clarín (Argentina).
As is tradition, the Assembly will conclude with the presentation of the 2025 IAPA Excellence in Journalism Awards and institutional honors:
· Grand Prize Chapultepec: Thomson Reuters Foundation.
· Grand Prize for Press Freedom: Daniel Coronell, President of Univisión Noticias.
· Friend of the Press Award: Redacciones5G.
· Executive of the Year Award: René Picado Cozza, President of Teletica, Costa Rica.
The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending and promoting freedom of the press and expression in the Americas. It comprises more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.