Yemen Times & UNESCO Sponsor Seminar on: “Press Freedom in Yemen” [Archives:1998/17/Front Page]

Some 50 journalists will meet to assess press freedom in Yemen on May 3rd. The event, organized to observe the World Press Freedom Day, is being jointly sponsored by Unesco and Yemen Times.
The first session, chaired by Ms. Amatal-Aleem Al-Susuwa, Deputy Minister of Information, will address government-media relations. Mr. Abdullah Sa’ad, Director of Al-Waki’ Center, will give an overall evaluation of conditions of the media in Yemen today. Mr. Ali Saif Hassan, Chief Editor of Al-Wahdawi newspaper, mouthpiece of the Nasserite Unionist Party, will talk about government efforts to hold back information from the media. Faisal Mukarram, Head of Al-Hayat newspaper in Yemen, will talk about the interference of authorities in the work of reporters and correspondents.
Ahmed Al-Haj and Hamood Munassar, both correspondents and key leaders of the Yemeni Institute for Development of Democracy, will talk about the media and democratization.
The second session is chaired by Mr. Hisham Ba-Shraheel, Chief Editor of Al-Ayyam. Mr. Mahboob Ali, Director of the Middle East Region’s International Organization of Journalists, will assess how much of the Sanaa Declaration on Freedom of the Press issued in January 1996 has been implemented. Ms. Aneesa Ghanim, a leading female columnist, will make a presentation on women in the media. Mr. Jamal Al-Adimi, Chief Editor of Al-Qustas magazine, will discuss his tribulations with the financial media regulations.
The third session, chaired by Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf, Chief Editor of Yemen Times, will be a debate on how to revive the now-defunct Journalists’ Syndicate. Many options will be discussed.
The seminar will be kicked off by Dr. Abdul-Kareem Al-Iryani, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Najeeb Freiji, Director of UNIC, and Abdul-Rahman Al-Akwa’, Minister of Information will also participate.
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