On Thursday 27 Octotber, the Press Club Brussels Europe, together with the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) in Belgium and the Italian NGO Ossigeno per l’Informazione, who monitors thousands of cases of threatened journalists in Italy, organized this event to alert professional and political authorities in Europe to this serious issue and to seek suitable responses to the dangers journalists face in their daily work.
The event had two sessions:
– the first one centered on the geography of violence perpetrated against journalists in all its possible declinations and how it has an impact on the work of fellow journalists. A panel with experienced journalists and other experts will convey the message of the impact of the increased dangers for journalists all over the world because of their work. Special welcome address from the UNESCO representative Adeline Hulin
Speakers on the panel: William Horsley, AEJ Media Freedom Representative; Jean-Paul Marthoz, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ); Gie Goris, MO Magazine; Erisa Zykaj, Brussels correspondent of ABCNews TV (Albania).
– a second session will be centered on the Italian case and the work of Ossigeno per l’Informazione (Oxygen for Information) which has uncovered, through their specific “method” of enquiry, the cases of thousands of journalists, bloggers, photo and video reporters, who have been victims of intimidation, threats and abuse in Italy because of their work. The debate that will follow might also help uncover the same kind of intimidations in other countries in Europe and elsewhere that go unreported and that can seriously affect freedom of information even in the most democratic countries. Special welcome (in video) from Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE representative on Freedom of the Media.
Speakers: Alberto Spampinato, journalist and founder of “Ossigeno”: his brother Giovanni Spampinato was killed on October 27th 1972 because of his work as a journalist; Sarah Vantorre, a Belgian PhD graduate whose doctoral dissertation in Italian studies focused on the work of Sicilian journalist and intellectual Giuseppe Fava, who was also murdered because of his work and Ricardo Gutierrez, Secretary General of the European Federation of Journalists.
This event has the support of several international media organizations
(UNESCO, UN, EFJ, IFJ, OSCE, CoE, ECPMF and the international AEJ).