In most of the 14 countries, especially North American and Western European countries, surveyed, press freedom (including broadcasting) was considered more important than social stability.

In India, Singapore and Russia, however, more people favored stability over press freedom. In those countries, around 48% of those surveyed supported controls over the press to ensure peace and stability.

Some developed countries strongly believed in the importance of press freedom but were critical of their own media's honesty and accuracy. In the United States, Britain and Germany, only around 29% of those surveyed thought their media did a good job in reporting news accurately.

Delegates to the Arab Free Press Forum have condemned travel restrictions imposed by authorities in several Arab countries that prevented some speakers and participants from attending the event.

The Forum, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and the An-Nahar newspaper, drew independent journalists from across the Arab world to Beirut, Lebanon, to address the challenges and opportunities facing Arab media. Several journalists who were scheduled to participate were prevented from travelling from Egypt, Tunisia, Qatar, Libya and Syria.

"Passports have not be renewed, previously acceptable travel documents have been disputed at the last moment, and the airlines have prevented passengers from boarding," said a statement from the Forum, which was held 9 and 10 December.

"It is impossible to escape the conclusion that the authorities in different countries are adopting a common strategy to use and abuse official procedures to obstruct events such as ours," said the group, which called on governments "to respect the right of Arab journalists to meet and speak freely at the public forum of their choice."

In more press freedom issues from the Arab World, Mr Mohamed Alayyan, Publisher, Al Ghad, Jordan launched a home-delivered newspaper that appealed to young people and women. He installed strong editorial guidelines to protect its independence. In three years, it has become the leading independent newspaper in Jordan and the second largest in terms of circulation.

But having the government as a competitor causes problems as well. Civil servants favour government newspapers when it comes to giving information. And it is easy in the Arab world for an independent newspaper to run into trouble with the authorities.

"You cannot be revolutionary, you have to be evolutionary," said Mr Alayyan. "You can't say, 'I'm going to turn the tables', because it won't get you anywhere and may get you into jail. It is important to adapt and you have to keep pushing the envelope slowly to get to your goal, to get to -- if there is such a thing -- absolute freedom of speech."


Source: European Journalism Centre
For the full WAN press release click here