WPFD2015: Focus on media ownership

The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), on Saturday held a side event as part of activities to mark this year’s World Press Freedom Day (WPFD2015).

The event, which held at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvia had delegates from across the globe including about 300 young journalists as well as journalism students forming the youth newsroom.


Like the problem media faces in many countries of the world, the key topic of discussion at the side event was ‘Media ownership’; The Nation is ably represented at the event.

With Ms. Pavla Holove of Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Mr. Tamas Bodoky, editor-in-chief of atlatszo.hu, it was realised that one of the major challenges of creating a fair and independent media content is the issue of who owns the media.

According to a recent study conducted by OCCRP, political interests and even organized crime claim ownership of the largest media outlets in many regions of the world – Northern Europe in particular.

As the two major discussants engaged the topic, the question begging for answer was; “How can we ensure people will find the truth?”

WPFD is a UNESCO event to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.

Among such journalists is Peter Greste of Al-Jazeera who was accused of aiding terrorists’ activities in Egypt and was therefore detained for more than 365 days. Greste after his release said: “Journalism thrives when reporters are able to work without draconian constraint. Free media is key to free society, free debate, free ideas.”

The UN General Assembly proclaimed the international day in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the 26th Session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991.

This in turn was a response to a call by African journalists who in 1991 produced the landmark Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and independence.

The main event is scheduled to hold on Sunday at the Latvian National Library, Mukusalas in Riga, the country’s capital city.