Group Calls for Press Freedom in Belarus

By: Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press Writer (AP) The president of Belarus must end the growing suppression of journalists in his nation, a leader of the world's newspaper executives said Monday as she honored independent media in the former Soviet republic.

The World Newspaper Congress, which meets each year to promote press freedom and the industry's financial health, presented its annual Golden Pen of Freedom award to the Belarus Association of Journalists, which has faced repeated crackdowns by President Alexander Lukashenko.

Also Monday, the director general of the World Association of Newspapers told the congress that newspapers worldwide suffered declines last year in sales and advertising revenue, although those in fledgling democracies and emerging economies tended to keep growing.

"The boom years of [advertising] growth in the '90s may well prove to have been exceptional and unsustainable" compared to today's "return to more normal patterns," said Timothy Balding, director general of the association, which represents 18,000 publications worldwide.

He said circulation rose in China, India, Russia, and Turkey, but globally it fell by 0.35%. Excluding the United States, Japan, and Western Europe, which experienced decline, global newspaper circulation rose by 0.75%, he said.

Gloria Brown Anderson, president of the World Editors Forum, presented the freedom award to the association's leader, Zhanna Litvina.

Lukashenko "has made his country one of the most dangerous on earth to practice journalism," said Anderson, who is vice president of international and editorial development at The New York Times.

Anderson noted that journalists in Belarus "face unimaginable obstacles: jail, censorship, seizure of equipment, tax audits, arbitrary fines, and more." She lauded Litvina and her colleagues for "fighting bravely against what is no doubt the most repressive regime in Europe."

Of the country's approximately 1,200 newspapers and periodicals, she said, "only 35 can be considered independent."

"Despite many hardships and the best efforts of President Lukashenko to eliminate free speech, the independent press is a much sought-after source of news," she said, appealing for the president "to cease the growing suppression of free journalists."

The audience of more than 1,000 newspaper executives from 88 countries also heard about the growing risks faced by journalists in conflict zones and undemocratic societies globally.

In 2002, 46 journalists were killed, and so far this year 29 have died, including 13 in Iraq, said Seok Hyun Hong, chairman and chief executive of the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo. Two others were missing and presumed dead.

He noted that in 2002 approximately 1,420 journalists reported being "beaten, abducted, arrested or threatened, or having their publications censored or banned."

More than 150 journalists were currently in prison "for essentially doing their jobs." He specified Cuba, China, Eritrea, and Myanmar as particularly egregious jailers of journalists.

The opening of the three-day meeting at the Royal Dublin Society also featured a speech from Bono, the U2 pop star who campaigns for the relief of Third World debt and free distribution of AIDS-fighting drugs to Africa.

Bono told the executives he depended on their publications to take his crusades seriously.

"I'm tough. But you're the toughest. That's because of the power you have in your hands and your headlines. It's amazing," said Bono, who wore a reversed baseball cap and dark sunglasses in a room dominated by pinstriped suits.