Newspaper organisations protest UN examination of editorial quality

The World Association of Newspapers and the European Newspaper Publishers Association have jointly objected to an International Labour Organisation examination of editorial quality in a meeting that began Monday in Geneva. The week-long ILO meeting on "The Future of Work and Quality in the Information Society" seeks to determine how modern information and communication technologies affect employment and impact working conditions and quality in the media, culture and graphical industries. The consideration of editorial quality by the intergovernmental ILO -- a United Nations organisation -- interferes with freedom of the press, said WAN and ENPA in a statement submitted to the meeting. "Any interference in the editorial content of newspapers constitutes a dangerous and unacceptable breach of freedom of the press and the independence of publishers and journalists," the statement said. "We therefore call on the ILO to avoid including editorial content in its analysis on the quality of media."