Internet Press Freedom Conference

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News and Media Law Leaders Endorse Principles for Internet Press Freedom

NEW YORK -- A conference of leading journalists, media lawyers and online news executives, meeting June 26-28 in New York, endorsed a set of 16 principles representing fundamental guidelines for maintaining and protecting the freedom and independence of Internet news, and suggested actions to implement it.

The Statement of Vienna, a body of 16 principles adopted Nov. 21 in Vienna, Austria, as the fundamental guidelines for protecting press freedom on the Internet by members of nine leading global press freedom organizations. The Statement affirms, among its principles, that “news media in cyberspace and via international satellite broadcasts should be afforded the same freedom of expression rights as traditional news media. ...” (Full text of the Statement follows).

The conference, titled Press Freedom on the Internet, was co-sponsored by the World Press Freedom Committee and the Communications and Media Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

The conference panels included the following topics:

• The Associated Press Approaches New Press Freedom Challenges
• Overview of Internet News
• Growing Internet Restrictions
• Press Freedom Issues at the World Summit on the Information Society
• Supporting Internet Press Freedom Globally and How the Internet Can Promote Press Freedom
• Where in the World Can Internet Publishers be Sued? Which Countries' Laws Should Apply?
• "pressfreedom.com"
• The Global Internet Freedom Act: Effective Tool for Democracy?
• Endorsement of the Statement of Vienna -- and Strategies for Its Implementation

The conference featured some of the world's most renowned experts on press freedom and the Internet, including the following:
 
-- Tom Curley, in one of his first public statements since taking over June 1 as president and CEO of The Associated Press, said Internet issues - especially relating to intellectual property rights -- are among the greatest concerns for the AP’s worldwide operations.  “In every meeting I go to, there are issues around piracy and threats to our revenue stream,” he said. Other concerns include “considerable threats to getting access to information, what happens to that information and what we are responsible for,” he said.

Curley noted that AP has just designated New York lawyer John Keitt as general counsel with special responsibility for addressing intellectual property and other business development issues.

--  Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., co-sponsor with Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif) of a bill to establish an office of Global Internet Freedom, explained his purpose in introducing the bill, which is expected to reach the floor of the House of Representatives in early July.

-- Geoffrey Robertson, noted British human rights lawyer, described the new challenges the Internet poses for publishers, who are now becoming targets for libel suits from all corners of the world based on complaints by plaintiffs that they have been wronged by material appearing on the Internet, even if it originates in another country.

-- Kim Holmes, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, declared that the United States will defend press freedom rights at the United Nations and UNESCO,  and at an upcoming World Summit on the Information Society.

Others making statements included experts in news, journalism education, media law and Internet technology:
Leonard Sussman, senior scholar in international communications at Freedom House;
Shanthi Kalathil, author of global studies of Internet freedom, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace;
Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Study Program at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism;
Ben Edelman, who has written extensively about Internet blocking, Harvard Law School;

Guy-Olivier Segond, Special Ambassador, World Summit on the Information Society;
Henrikas Yushkiavitshus, Adviser to UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura;
Andres Garcia Lavin, former President, Inter American Press Association and
International Association of Broadcasting;
Mogens Schmidt, Assistant Director, Press Freedom and Democracy, UNESCO;
Ronald Koven, European Representative, World Press Freedom Committee;

Adam Clayton Powell III, Visiting Professor, Annenburg School for Communication, USC;
Timothy Balding, Director General, World Association of Newspapers;
Tala Dowlatshahi, U.S. Representative, Reporters Without Borders;
Mick Stern, Webmaster, Committee to Protect Journalists;
David Schulz, Esq., Clifford Chance LLP;
Jan Constantine , Esq., News American Publishing Co.;
Kevin Goering, Esq., Coudert Bros. LLP;
Stuart Karle, Esq., Dow Jones & Co.;

Kevin Goldberg, Communications lawyer with Cohn & Marks; WPFC General Counsel;
Jane Kirtley, Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law, University of Minnesota School of Journalism and
   Mass Communication;
Paige Anderson, Staff Counsel for Global Internet Policy Initiative, Center for Democracy and Technology;
Roger Parkinson, former president, World Association of Newspapers;
Andrew Nachison, Director, The Media Center, American Press Institute;
Seymour Topping, San Paulo Professor of International Journalism, Columbia University;
Richard Winfield, Clifford Chance US LLP; former AP General Counsel.