By Martin Banks - 5th March 2008
European journalists have backed the rights of their Taiwanese counterparts to cover international events.
The Association of European Journalists (AEJ) says journalists from Taiwan should have the right to attend events such as the World Health Organisation annual assembly in May.
As Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, its journalists are barred from covering the WHO, which is a UN body.
But William Horsley,media freedom representative of the Brussels-based AEJ, said Taiwan’s media should be “free” to report on such events.
“It is a terrible shame that journalists from Taipei cannot report on a meeting which could have very important implications for their country,” said Horsley, a widely-respected former BBC foreign correspondent, who is now based in London.
“They should be free to report on national and international affairs without any barriers, be they political or otherwise.”
The WHO assembly in Geneva on 19 May is expected to deal with issues such as avian flu, SARS and other serious global health scares.
Taiwan says that the reporting ban is maintained every year, partly as a result of Chinese political pressure on the international community.
It hopes to highlight the “unfairness” of such restrictions in the run up to 4 May, which has been designated World Press Freedom Day.
Taiwan's 24 million population will take part in a referendum on the UN membership issue on 22 March, the same day as the country's presidential elections.
Horsley was speaking after a news conference in Brussels to launch the association’s newly-updated survey of media freedom in 20 European countries, from Russia to Spain.
It says there is “clear evidence” of a widespread erosion of media freedom as well as public trust in the media.
Horsley, the report's author, said its findings should be a “cause of concern” to editors and journalists in Europe as well as the societies which they seek to inform.
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