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[Gender Justice and Sustainable Development Network]

(Freedom House/IFEX) - Washington, DC - April 5, 2010 - In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of its Freedom of the Press survey, Freedom House has launched "30 Days of Press Freedom," a series of short essays reflecting developments in press freedom around the world over the last 30 years.

A new essay will be featured each day leading up to World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2010 and will highlight developments in press freedom for each of the 30 years of the survey's publication. From the threat of the "New World Information Order" in the late 1970s, to the promise of press freedom hinted at by Gazeta Wyborcza's masthead declaring "There's no freedom without Solidarity" in 1989 Poland, to the tragic murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006, "30 Days of Press Freedom" will document some of the globe's most significant moments in press freedom.

"Perhaps no single freedom has proven more valuable in safeguarding human rights and democracy than press freedom," said Karin Karlekar, managing editor of Freedom of the Press. "It's incumbent on all of us to reflect on the changes in press freedom, positive and negative, over the last 30 years and understand the events that have prompted these changes if we are to reclaim the upper hand in promoting freedom of expression."

Freedom of the Press contains the most comprehensive data set available on global media freedom and is a key resource for scholars, policymakers, and international institutions. Since the start of the survey in 1980, the global level of press freedom has improved steadily, punctuated by openings in Latin America in the 1980s and the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s, but recent years have seen a worrying trend of decline, even in relatively open environments such as Italy.

Freedom House will release the findings from Freedom of the Press 2010 on April 29, 2010.

For more information:

Freedom House
120 Wall Street, Fl. 26
New York, NY 10005
USA
Tel: +1 212 514 8040
Fax: +1 212 514 8055

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HREA - www.hrea.org

Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) is an international non-governmental organisation that supports human rights learning; the training of activists and professionals; the development of educational materials and programming; and community-building through on-line technologies.

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