DIANA DANIELS
Speech to the Midyear Meeting
Quito, Ecuador

Ladies and Gentlemen
Senoras y Senores
Damas e Cavalheiros

Friends and Amigos

Little did I know when I last spoke to you in Indianapolis that I would have to order new pages for my passport before the year was up!

I am pleased to report to you today on the progress that has been made on the 2006 plan since October. I’ve divided this report into three main parts: 1) the core programs – primarily our Impunity, Freedom of the Press, Press Institute and Chapultepec programs, 2) the structural and administrative sectors, and 3) IAPA’s outreach objectives.

I’ll begin with our core program goals.

Early in February we had a productive meeting in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, discussing the negative impact of organized crime on news coverage. More than 120 journalists from this high-risk area attended. While there, we assisted in the launch of Project Fenix, which will unite a group of multimedia professionals to investigate the murders of journalists and follow the investigation process as an oversight committee. Our meeting clearly hit a nerve in the organized crime world. One week after our seminar ended, a bomb was set off at the host newspaper El Mañana of Nuevo Laredo.

Two weeks later we held another successful meeting in Tegucigalpa with the same purpose, to help journalists cope under violent situations. In this case, however, the danger and risks emerge from gang-related crimes in Central America affecting the practice of journalism and free speech in the region. During our visit to Honduras, newly inaugurated President Zelaya addressed the meeting and signed the Declaration of Chapultepec. Also in attendance were three ministers of security and/or administration from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

I wish you all could have been there to see the rapt attention of the 300 or so attendees during the entire two day session.

In both places, journalists came up with declarations that set goals for news coverage and requested new security measures by government and media. Yesterday we presented the Risk Map book that gives you a better perspective of how organized crime, in particular narco-trafficking, is affecting journalists and the media and forcing self censorship.

Under the Chapultepec Project’s Phase III we held two Legislative Conferences, one in Argentina and one in Panama. In each case we sponsored a workshop of national and international experts to draw up recommendations that IAPA members delivered to legislators the following day in both private and public forums. The objective in Argentina was to encourage lawmakers to vote on a stalled freedom of information bill which, although not ideal, would have sent an important message to the current administration. The bill unfortunately was amended unfavorably but was fortunately not enacted. A new FOI bill is expected to be reintroduced in the next congress.

Panama presented a different challenge from Argentina in that President Torrijos supported the enactment of a form of FOI law in 2004, following his participation in our mid-year meeting there, and “desacato” was eliminated that same year. Last month, recommendations to eliminate the remaining limitations to the access law, remedy the ambiguity of the 2005 right of reply law and decriminalize injury and libel were presented. On this last point, Congressman Arturo Araúz (National Liberal Party- PLN), from the opposition, stated publicly that Panama should adopt Inter-American case law on decriminalization and stated that if this does not make the agenda during the current debate on reforms to the Penal Code, his party is willing to introduce a bill on this matter.

Clearly, now that we have made our first mark, a solid follow-up plan is called for in both these countries.

By now most of you have heard about the fourth Chapultepec Summit we will hold in Costa Rica next November. This one is inspirational, in many ways similar to the original summit that drafted the Declaration. Under the leadership of Jack Fuller, the committee has put together a list of close to 100 experts who will look into themes surrounding the values in journalism. The goal is to ultimately update the credo -- initially set forth 80 years ago by Ezequiel P. Paz of La Prensa, Argentina and adopted 55 years ago by the IAPA -- to match the media that exists in today’s world.

Let me now move on to our structural projects.
On the administrative side our pro-bono attorneys, Covington and Burling, have made a rather thorough analysis of the legal and tax status of the three entities (IAPA, Press Institute and the Scholarship Fund). As a result of a recommendation by counsel of a potential re-structuring, I have named a working group to review the operational and other aspects of the reorganization in detail, before any further action is proposed.

Our building operations have stabilized, in part as a result of to the continuing financial assistance from third parties. We are in the final stages of drafting a Strategic plan. You will recall, that based on the 2005 membership survey, many of you participated in a round table exercise in Indianapolis to prioritize your interests on a series of topics. From those results, we have drafted a preliminary Plan which will be discussed and evaluated by you in a second session of roundtables this afternoon. During today’s session we expect additional input from many of you, in particular with respect to implementation and goal setting. The resulting final draft should be ready for final approval at the Mexico City General Assembly.

Finally, let me address our outreach efforts.

On the membership front, we followed up on an initiative begun under Alejo Miró Quesada’s watch with the specific goal of strengthening our ties with Brazilian publishers and identifying ways to collaborate on promoting our common goals. In December, I had the opportunity to present our extensive list of programs to the membership of the ANJ, Brazil’s national association of newspapers during its annual meeting in Sao Paulo. As a result, I am certain we all benefited from this morning’s presentation by Brazilian experts who shared their experiences on circulation, advertising sales and social responsibility. We also set the stage for a Legislative Conference to be held in Brasilia on Press Day, May 3, in Brasilia in a joint effort with ANJ.

Needless to say, we are pleased with the results and hope that they are just the beginning of many more collaborative projects you will be seeing in the short term. Tomorrow afternoon, for the first time in IAPA history, the associations from 10 countries will join us here in an effort to begin building the framework for just that purpose.

Some of you will say I saved the best for the last. I’m referring to the awareness campaign that we are planning to launch region-wide, with the exception of the US and Canada. In February Juan Luis Correa introduced us to the Panama agency of McCann Worldwide, which is developing the concept to promote the Freedom of Expression Awareness campaign. On the pragmatic level this effort is designed to bring about a better understanding of what freedom of expression means and its critical role in democracy among citizens young and old, rich and poor, rural and urban, mainstream and minority. On the intuitive level it will help close the gap between IAPA’s image and its reality throughout the Hemisphere.

I can share with you that they have done a wonderful job and I believe the final project will be something you can all buy into and become engaged in. We are presently in the process of approaching foundations that take leadership in promoting democratic governance, human rights and the protection of journalists and independent media -- to seek funding to support the campaign.

It has been a busy, productive five months since Indianapolis. I would like to take a final moment to compliment the staff of IAPA for the work they do to keep all the many programs running so efficiently and effectively and to keep me on task. When you see a staff member during this meeting I hope you will take the time to thank them for their contribution to freedom of the press and freedom of expression in the hemisphere.

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Copyright © 2003 Inter American Press Association. All rights reserved.

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58th IAPA General Assembly
JW Marriott Hotel & Stellaris Casino
Lima, Peru
October 26-29, 2002