National Press Club Panel to Assess Repression of Expression in Mideast

Feb 14 2012

Clock icon WHEN:

Feb 14, 2012 at 9:30am

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First Amendment Lounge

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John M. Donnelly

[email protected]

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Special Event

National Press Club Panel to Assess Repression of Expression in Mideast

More than a year ago, uprisings in several Mideast countries triggered what has come to be called the Arab Spring. But when it comes to freedom of the press and on the Internet, it has been a chilling period in many parts of that region. Reporters and citizens have been spied on, beaten, imprisoned and even killed merely for telling the truth about what is happening in their countries.

On Feb. 14 at 9:30am in the National Press Club’s Fourth Estate Restaurant, the Club’s Press Freedom Committee hosts a panel to examine the latest Mideast trends on repression of expression.

The panel will be moderated by Frank Smyth, executive director of Global Journalist Security (journalistsecurity.net) and senior advisor for journalist security at the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Panelists are :
-Nada Alwadi, a Bahraini journalist;
-Abderrahim Foukara, Al Jazeera’s Washington bureau chief;
-Jeff Ghannam, a lawyer, writer and former reporter who has contributed widely to the debate on social media and media development in the Arab region.
--Clare Morgana Gillis, a US-based freelancer with Mideast experience who was jailed in Libya last year.

Assisting the National Press Club in this event are: Freedom House, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the National Endowment for Democracy’s Center for International Media Assistance.

The National Press Club, based in Washington, D.C., is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. The Club represents more than 3,300 members worldwide representing every major news organization. The Club was founded in 1908.

Contact: John M. Donnelly, Press Freedom Committee chairman and member of NPC Board of Governors ([email protected]).